


Hydra Heist

by Karly_Quinn, Lady_Lala



Series: Ultimate Universe: DC Section 3000 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Li'l Gotham (Comics), DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: After Endgame AU, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, F/M, Follows Marvel canon through Endgame, Gen, Gradual Crossover, Hurt/Comfort, Influenced by Animated and Lil' Gotham but not strictly, No Slash, No Smut, Post-Endgame, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26234236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karly_Quinn/pseuds/Karly_Quinn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Lala/pseuds/Lady_Lala
Summary: Tony, may he rest in peace, had asked a strange favor of me. (Yes, I did just say that.) That favor was to keep an eye on a certain alternate reality... ours. Apparently there was a rift in the Ultimate Universe after the events of End Game that caused the reality you see in the movies to branch off from the one I hail from. This allowed for some very interesting developments to, well develop in our reality. Universes you may have thought were different from ours, were actually present this whole time.  I've always known that places like Metropolis and Gotham existed, the heroes I know personally and the heroes of those cities simply were to caught up with their own troubles to ever meet. But now as I peer into this reality future, nothing makes sense, and it seems our separate ways will finally cross. I see things I can't begin to explain are flashing before my eyes. But perhaps the most perplexing of things I've seen in these visions is Tony... alive and well.-Doctor Strange
Relationships: Oracle/Nightwing, Tony Stark & Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark & Damian Wayne, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
Series: Ultimate Universe: DC Section 3000 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720687
Kudos: 5





	1. Visions

**Author's Note:**

> A word before the story.  
> Yes, this story has to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yes, you may not get every joke and might even get confused a time or two. There might be references you do not get. But please read it anyway. I wrote this story so that anyone can enjoy it.  
> Think of it like this: there are plenty of fantasy stories/shows that have their own made-up religions. And sometimes that religion can be a major element, for good or bad. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a believer to enjoy it. Treat this story like that.  
> While what I write reflects my beliefs, I in no way speak for the LDS church. Like C.S. Lewis, I am simply expressing how I think God would work if my story was real. If you are confused by any religious aspects or have questions, let me know in the comments. I am happy to explain. My religion is just such a big part of my life that I can’t keep it out of my writing.  
> My goals here are simple. First, to have fun. Second, to share wholesome uplifting entertainment that will make you think and maybe even make the world a little better. Third, to prove that you can handle, for lack of a better word, mature topics in a way that is uplifting and doesn’t leave you feeling dirty. I promise that I will always write in a PG way. I’m rating this Teen because I am planning on addressing a few topics you won’t find in a kid show but in a kid/tween appropriate way. (I hope that made sense.)  
> Note: This story right here will probably be the most heavily “Mormon” section.  
> Note 2: Italics is vision. If you've read Never Ending Story, the narrative flow is kind of like that.

_ The warehouse smelled of blood. _

_ Old blood, but blood nevertheless. The heroes stood frozen on the precipice of action. A man with a black and orange mask held Morgan to his chest, a knife casually held to her throat. The girl’s eyes glinted with defiance that belied her fear. _

_ It was enough to make any father proud. Now all Tony had to do was free her. _

_ One lone man, Deathstroke, Fury had called him, against all of them. It should have been easy. _

_ It wasn’t. _

_ Falcon threw his shield, and Deathstroke caught it, throwing it back and knocking the hero out the sky. Sam dropped like a stone, the shield skittering to a stop a few feet from his head.  _

_ Wanda went to engage Deathstroke from the front, the Hulk beside her. It was a standoff, and Morgan wielded expertly as a human shield. There were many close calls where the heroes were barely able to pull their punches and avoid hitting her. _

_ The rest of their allies were engaging Deathstroke’s robot doppelgangers. But Tony saw an opening. The man who held his daughter captive was focused entirely on Scarlet Witch and Bruce; his backside was an open invitation. _

_ Iron Man rose and took the shot. _

_ Deathstroke whirled and raised Morgan’s body to meet it. _

_ Every scanner in his suit was happily confirming that the shot could not miss or be deflected. It would hit the pre-chosen target, nevermind someone else was in that spot now. In high definition, Tony Stark watched as tears threatened to spill from his baby girl’s eyes as she realized she was about to die. _

_ And then another body blocked her from view. _

* * *

Doctor Strange yanked back to reality. That vision had been bizarre; never before had he viewed events from more than one point of view and been privy in part to the thoughts of the participants. He knew it was a vision of his own home reality, but how? Tony Stark was dead; if nothing else, of that he was sure.

He focused once more, submerging his consciousness into the timestream of his native reality.

* * *

_ Disjointed images flitted by, none staying in focus long. A young woman with flaming hair and beautiful white wings, trying to soar free but the chain on her leg binding her to the sterile ground. _

_ Two masked women shrouded in black, running through the halls of the Helicarrier, leaving destruction and mayhem in their wake. _

_ Rows upon rows of hibernation chambers, their occupants hidden from view. Villains in strange costumes, gaunt and pale, strapped to beds and moaning as armed men patrolled between them. _

_ The images flew by faster and faster, blurring together. Glowing electric blue eyes crackled into focus, blinding… _

* * *

Stephen pulled out once more, gasping for air. Nothing was making sense! How was he supposed to protect this universe if glimpses of the future defied what he knew to be true?

He swore the Ancient One was laughing at him.

“Wong?”

“Yes, Stephen?”

“I have a problem.” Stephen relayed the vision to his friend, and Wong listened intently. “I don’t understand any of it!”

“May I suggest you start at the beginning?” Wong responded. “And keep an open mind. There are still many simple truths you have yet to learn. Be careful of your pride, Doctor Strange.”

“And just where is the beginning?” Stephen grumbled.

Wong shrugged. “That is for you to find. Look for where things changed.”

Doctor Strange figured he should get right to it. There were lives at risk. As he resumed his meditation, and the present vanished from view, Wong gave him one last piece of advice.

“Be patient. It is the small and seemingly insignificant things that often make the greatest impact. You must see things through and trust that it will reveal what you need to know.”

* * *

_ Bruce Wayne was sitting outside a café brooding over his coffee. Alfred was beside him, content to ignore his young master’s mood. Bruce was fine with that. He was too busy glaring at two young men in dark suits, walking down a residential street knocking on doors. (It might also be one of those rare occasions where he was too sleep-deprived to remember that he was always supposed to be cheerful in public unless he had his cowl on.) _

_ “I don’t like those two.” _

_ Alfred looked up from his cup of proper English tea. “Who?” _

_ Bruce made an almost imperceptible gesture with his head. “Those two in the suits.” _

_ Alfred looked in the direction Bruce had gestured and saw the young men in question. _

_ “Ah yes, the Mormon Missionaries,” Alfred said brightly, “lovely young people.” _

_ “I don’t like the look of them.” Bruce continued, not hearing Alfred’s remark, “They must be from Lex Corp. They’ve been in the city for over a week, and I think it’s time Batman showed them the door.” _

_ “Batman will do no such thing!” Alfred stated sternly. “Did you not hear what I said?” _

_ “Hmm?” _

_ “They are Mormon missionaries, Bruce. Besides, Batman has no right to go throwing well dressed young men out of the city just because they look suspicious. I happen to have looked into the business of those two young men myself, and Gotham is blessed to have them visiting.” _

_ Bruce looked at his butler in surprise, an incredulous look on his face. “Well, you certainly have an opinion about those two. What do you know about the Mormons and their well dressed young people?” _

_ “They are missionaries Bruce and good men.” _

_ “Really? You know those two then?” _

_ “No, but I’ve met others like them.” _

_ The incredulous eyebrow only raised further. “Go on.” _

_ Alfred inhaled deeply before continuing. “During my time serving in the Great War, I fought alongside several Mormons. I was always impressed with their valor, bravery, and impeccable manners. They seemed to have a firm grasp of why they were here and where they were going. I wished I had asked them what made them so determined. If these young men are anything like the ones I knew then, Gotham is indeed lucky to have them.” _

_ Bruce nodded, satisfied with the answer. Alfred was an excellent judge of character, and if he trusted these boys, then so would Bruce… to a certain extent, that is. “Well, I have no interest in what they have to say.” he sighed, getting up, “But I won’t bother them. Feel free to ask them your question though. Maybe they’ll tell you the secret is never to wear flip-flops.” _

_ Alfred smiled. “I wasn’t aware that I needed your permission. And you should never wear flip-flops. They’re not proper shoes.” _

_ Bruce chuckled. _

* * *

Gotham, the vision took place in Gotham. The names of the two young men knocking on doors revealed themselves to Stephen’s mind; the senior Elder was Elder McKoy and the other was Elder Lee. Far more interesting were the subtle implications, like notes from a narrator of a book, that came through the vision. They suggested there was far more to playboy Bruce Wayne than met the eye.

Strange wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to know about the billionaire’s secrets. It felt like he was invading into something private. But Morgan’s life could be at stake. He plunged on.

* * *

_ Alfred had just finished putting the last of the items from the local grocer in the car. It was pouring rain. Alfred closed the boot and hurried into the driver’s seat. He was about to drive off when he caught sight of the two young missionaries from the day before. They were going door to door again. It was obvious they hadn’t had any success as another door was slammed in their faces before they could get past “hello”. Someone threw mud at the senior looking one, and he visibly bit his tongue to keep from saying something un-gentleman like. _

_ Alfred felt for the two. He made up his mind. _

_ Lee stumbled in the now blinding rain, and McKoy bowled into him. The two came crashing to the ground. They just lay there for a moment, almost to numb from the cold to notice when the rain stopped. They both looked up to see a friendly, older gentleman holding an umbrella over them. _

_ “Would you like a hand?” _

_ The gentleman helped McKoy up, who, in turn, helped Elder Lee up. The gentlemen pulled out a handkerchief and attempted to clean up the boys’ suits as best he could. The Elders were taken back by the gestures of kindness. They just stood there dumbly.  _

_ At last satisfied that his handkerchief could do no more, the older man straightened. “Are you quite all right, Elders?” he said in the Queen’s English. _

_ McKoy was still stumbling over his words when Lee answered, “Yes, yes we are, thank you! You know who we are then?” _

_ “Yes,” replied the gentleman, “I knew young men like you back in World War II. Lovely companions.” _

_ Elder McKoy seemed to have finally found his voice, “thank you for your service Mr…” _

_ “Pennyworth.” Alfred said, nodding his head, “and it was nothing. Just doing what I could.” _

_ “Oh, oh, thank you for helping us up too, but I meant your service in the war, but-but thank you for…” Elder McKoy finally clamped his mouth shut, thoroughly embarrassed now. _

_ “I know what you meant.” Alfred said, chuckling, “Well, I’d best get going, and you young men have work to do!” _

_ “Right!” McKoy said his ears a little less pink, “thank you again, Mr. Pennyworth. Is-is there anything we can do for you before we go?” _

_ “Actually there is something you could do for me, Elders, if it’s not too much. There’s something I’d like to ask you. But I am rather busy at the moment, and I am afraid the answer will take quite some time.” _

_ “Of course! Uh…” McKoy quickly fumbled in his suit coat pocket, finally drawing out a notebook (by some miracle was still dry) and pen. “Write down the time and place, and we will be there!” he said with perhaps a little too much excitement. _

_ Alfred simply smiled and took the notebook. He scribbled something down and handed it back. McKoy squinted at the note and then smiled, “I’ll see you at six then, Mr. Pennyworth.” _

_ “Please, call me Alfred.” Alfred smiled back, “I best be off then. Good luck, Elders.” _

_ The Elders nodded enthusiastically, scared that if they spoke, they would wake up from this dream. _

_ The fact this was reality must have finally settled because as Alfred drove away, he could see in his rearview mirror the Elders dancing in the rain. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments! I just have them moderated right now because I am expecting I might get some haters. Also, I won't publish anything with cuss words in it, including comments. Thank you!


	2. Enter Bat Manor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alfred gets his answer. Bruce is intrigued. Stephen is bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is unusually short. I hope you don't mind. Feel free to reach out to me at my tumblr Karly Quinn.

Stephen couldn’t help chuckling to himself at the sight of the two elders dancing in the rain like children. Gotham was a hard city and Bruce Wayne was no Christain. At least, not the last time Strange had bothered to read the tabloids.

* * *

_ Bruce was seated at the kitchen counter munching an apple while reading the news. Alfred was putting away the last dishes from dinner. _

_ Without looking at Bruce, Alfred said “I have decided to ask the Elders my question. They'll be by 6:00.” _

_ “What if they're late?” Bruce asked over a bite of granny smith. _

_ “They won't be.” Alfred responded simply. _

_ Bruce swallowed his bite of apple. “You’re a good man, Alfred. I trust you not to do anything foolish. But you know my opinion on religion.” _

_ “I didn’t expect you to be interested.” _

_ Meanwhile, on the road to Wayne Manor, two dumbfounded Elders stood next to their bicycles. They double checked the address they had been given, then the GPS. They looked to heaven, to each other, and back to the road. They shrugged and got back on their bikes, pedaling towards the manor. _

* * *

_ Bruce was sitting in his study just off the living room when the doorbell rang. He heard Alfred let the Elders in and invited them to have a seat in the living room. Bruce opened the door to his study just a crack. He didn't care for religion but even he was curious as to what question could be so important that Alfred would turn to the Mormons for answers. _

_ McKoy leaned forward in his big comfy armchair across from Alfred. “You had some questions for us?” _

_ Alfred nodded. “Indeed. As I mentioned before, I knew young men like you during the Great War. I had always wondered what made them so firm in their beliefs even in the horror of war. They knew why they were here, where they came from, and where they were going. What is it that you believe?” _

_ Lee jumped right in. “We believe that we existed before we were born, and that we lived with God as spirits before we came to earth. He sent us here so we could learn and grow, and ultimately become perfect like him. And if we live righteously, we will return to live with him again. We also believe that the relationships we make in this life will continue in the life to come.” _

_ That last line caught Bruce’s attention. His mind immediately jumped to his parents. _

_ Apparently, Alfred was curious too. “Explain that last part please.” _

_ The Elders did. _

_ Bruce learned several things that night. He learned that the LDS religion believed that families could be forever. That a husband and wife could be sealed together not just for this life, but for eternity. Their children would be sealed to them as well. That the family would continue to exist beyond the veil.  _

_ He learned that they believed in the resurrection of Christ, and not the Lazarus pit kind. They believed Christ’s spirit was reunited with his body, and that his body then became perfect and immortal. They believed that because Christ was resurrected, someday so would all men. Families would live and grow together in this perfect state. He learned that all little children were saved and that mothers would get to raise the children they had lost to soon, be that before or after birth. _

_ Just as surprising in Bruce’s mind was that these young men believed what they preached. He could tell when a man was lying, and these Elders certainly weren’t. Their belief was not the blind faith of the uneducated, superstitious, or those who simply refused to look at their traditions with a critical eye. Nor was it the fanaticism of the alien chasers. These were young men who knew what they believed and why they believed it. _

_ And Bruce believed it too. Never had anything felt more true or more correct than this. Nothing made more sense than that those who had been so wrongly taken from him would once again be restored and spend eternity by his side. He would see his parents again. Every sentence the Elders spoke was accompanied by a flood of warm memories and feelings from a time in Bruce’s life when all had been right. It made sense in his mind and felt right in his heart. _

_ It was only as the Elders stood to leave that Bruce realized he had left his office. He stood on the outskirts of the open living room, hidden by the shadow cast by a roaring fireplace. It was in that moment that Bruce realized he didn’t want the wonderful feeling the Elders had brought with them to leave. _

_ They were almost at the door when Bruce finally got up the courage to go after them.  _

_ “Wait just a moment.” he said perhaps a little harsher than needed. _

_ The Elders froze. _

_ “Elders… please. I… I feel… I mean.” Bruce struggled to put his feelings into words. At last he settled for, “Elders, I'd be honored if you'd visit again.” _

_ McKoy smiled, remembering when he had been in the billionaire’s shoes. “We would be honored too.” _

* * *

Stephen pulled out of the vision, taking a moment to ponder.

Bruce Wayne’s night with the Elder’s reminded him a lot of his first experiences with the Ancient One. And the Elder’s words, they rang with the same truth.

The vision wasn’t the most exciting to watch, he would admit. He still didn’t know what all of it had to do with Morgan Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? I'm feeling very unloved...


	3. Operation: Burn It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief history of the Bat family. A case of teenage stupidity. Alfred is exasperated.

_Chronicler’s Note:_

_The vision was forced to reveal the secrets of the Wayne family to Doctor Strange. But you, dear reader, do not need nearly as lengthy an explanation as he did._

_Allow me to introduce the Batfamily briefly._

_You know who Batman is and how he came to be. And you know he has a sidekick named Robin. Beyond that, you probably have no clue what the Batfam is. Or how many Robins there are._

_The information out there on the Batfamily can be confusing and conflicting. So, allow me to set the record straight._

_ The first Robin is Dick Grayson. He’s from the circus where he performed as an acrobat with his parents. The circus was in trouble with Tony Zucco, who promised bad things if they didn’t pay him. True to his word, he sabotaged the trapeze ropes, leading them to break and Grayson’s parents falling to their deaths. The greedy man would have gotten away with it except for two small oversights, the intuition of kids and the fact the “accident” occurred in Gotham. Needless to say, Batman caught the bad guy with a little help from Grayson. That wasn’t the end of it though. Grayson snuck inside Batman’s car, determined to one day fight crime. You can guess what happened when Batman parked the Batmobile and Grayson snuck up the Batcave stairs. Thus, two long lasting habits of Batman’s were born; having a sidekick and checking the trunk each time he dealt with an insistent wannabe crime fighter. _

_ Grayson was Robin for many years, eventually graduating from ward to adopted son. Grayson eventually became his own crime fighter and took on the alias Nightwing. He never lost his performer’s flair though. His first costume as Nightwing put Elvis Presley to shame. _

_ Sometime before Grayson hung up the title of Robin, Babs entered the picture. The feisty intelligent daughter of Commissioner James Gordon, Barbra Gordon was ready to take the crime world by storm.  _

_ Babs, as Barbra is affectionately known, has always been a fan of the Bat. He was always helping her dad, the world’s coolest guy. So, for a costume party, she made her own feminine version of the Batsuit. She made it fully functional, gizmos and all, just for kicks. But when she arrived in costume, she was just in time to stop the kidnapping of the party’s hostess. Thus, began the adventures of Batgirl. _

_ A couple of years back, a bullet to the spinal cord put a stop to that. Babs became paralyzed from the waist down, and Commissioner Gordon finally had to stop pretending he didn’t know she was Batgirl. He was thus begrudgingly brought into the fold of those who know the secret identities of the Batfamily (from there you can pretty much figure out who everyone else in DC is). _

_ It is arguable that Barbra Gordon is more dangerous in a wheelchair than she ever was out of it. For one, she is a reckless driver. Many a friend and foe has been flattened by a wheelchair speeding down the stairs accompanied by “whee!” of maniac glee. Babs is now Oracle, all seeing all tech summoning Batfamily's eye in the sky. She is the girl in the chair in the universe’s most advanced command center. (It was only the galaxy’s best until she “updated” it.) She and Grayson are also a couple and wedding bells could be faintly heard whenever they walked by. _

_ The third Robin was Tim Drake. He’s the smart boy, the fanboy, and finally the Boy Wonder who figured out the identity of Batman and his Robins all on his own. Who followed them all over Gotham trying to get pictures for his own collection. He skipped sneaking into the trunk of the Batmobile and strong-armed his way into the role. Tim’s a master inventor and hacker, preferring computers and gadgets to acrobatics. His negligent once rich parents were never the wiser and never will be: they’re dead. He’s an emancipated minor now, though he was adopted by Bruce, and is CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Gothamites know him as Red Robin. _

_ Poor Tim kind of has to share his spot as Robin. Because the current Robin wasn’t waiting. _

_ Damian Wayne is the grandson of Ra’s Al Ghul, the guy who keeps dunking himself in Lazarus pits so he can live youngish forever and someday purge the world of all unworthy people. Damian is the son of Batman and Thalia, Ghul’s daughter. Damian was raised by the League of Assassins. What more needs to be said? _

_ Damian’s relationship with the family has been rocky. (Batman’s first knowledge of the kid was when Thalia arranged for Damian to live with him. The kid was ten and had no idea who Bruce was. Damian tried to kill him.) Damian has fought with everyone including Alfred and tried to “dispatch” several of them to “earn his place by his father’s side”. (The no killing rule was especially hard.) Despite his violent and sometimes arrogant ways, he is always ridiculously cute.  _

_ He has mellowed out to reveal a sweet, honorable, and loyal boy. His pride can be an issue, but he has come to respect those who deserve it. His trust is hard to gain, but he will never hurt his family. Beware those who harm those he cares about. But he is still violent and feisty. _

_ You may have noticed I skipped the second Robin. Jason Todd came from the ghettos. Batman caught him stealing the wheels off the Batmobile. He was working on the fourth one when Batman showed up. The kid had fire. He didn’t try to run. He was ready to take the punishment like a man. Batman was intrigued. _

_ The kid’s dad was absent, his mother an addict who he struggled to care for until she died of an overdose. He had learned how to fight on the street. Word among the down on their luck was that he had honor. Always sticking up for the little guy and helping them out. Wouldn’t join any of the gangs and only stole from those who looked like they could afford it. _

_ Batman adopted Jason and he became the second Robin. Mighty fine one too. Turns out Two-Face killed his dad, but the kid refused to seek revenge once he heard the villain’s story. He never put on the act of sweet and innocent. He wore the mantle of Robin for a week until he demanded a new costume. One with pants.  _

_ No one’s sure when the two began to drift apart, not even Jason and Bruce. One day the kid just left, moved to Jump City. He became the leader of the new Teen Titans with Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy. Batman and Jason still talked, but it was clear Jason was doing his own thing. _

_ Jason came back to Gotham, just for a month. He never returned to the T Tower. Turns out his “mother” wasn’t his real mother, and he tracked his birth mother down in Ethiopia. She turned him over to the Joker for drugs, smoking while the villain beat him savagely. Then Joker blew them both up.  _

_ Bruce was crushed. He was determined never to have another Robin. But Tim saw how the Bat was spiraling down ever darker paths. He knew the Dark Knight needed his Robin. And when he could not convince Grayson to carry the mantle once more, Tim Drake stole it. He would not be stopped. _

_ Then Jason came back from the dead. Just how, the sources are conflicted. But he wasn’t the same. He was bad. Lost his mind and adopted the mantle Red Hood. Eventually, he came back to his senses, came back to Gotham and hung out with the Batfamily. He had always been the cool Robin, but he was cooler than ever. Cool was just his natural state of being now. The ladies loved him. _

_ Jason and Grayson had always been close. Grayson had loved showing the new Robin the ropes. Tim and Jason became brothers too, Tim appreciating how Jason treated him like the capable crime fighter he was. Besides, Jason was his idol. Jason was the closest to him. Jason and Damian were too similar not to connect. They both had the seedy backgrounds and an honor code nobody else could quite piece together. _

_ Sure, Grayson and Damian were close. Bruce had gone missing for a while and Grayson had been Batman. He’d chosen Damian to be his Robin, much to Tim’s chagrin. When Bruce had come back, Grayson had helped him build a relationship with Damian. _

_ But Jason and Damian were something else. If anyone could talk sense into Damian, it was Jason. If anyone could relate to Damian, it was Jason. That’s why Damian took it the hardest when Jason left again. _

_ He and Tim were the most crushed. Tim lost his hero; he’d become Jason’s anchor and he felt he had failed his brother somehow. That if he’d maybe given a little more, required less love, Jason would have stayed. _

_ Several months after moving back to Gotham, Jason and Bruce had a falling out. Jason had always been rough around the edges, there had always been some friction between the two. They fought. A lot. But they always patched things up immediately afterward. This time was different. _

_ Things were said. The fight was about something else, no one cares to remember what. What it was really about was the fact Jason had killed. Despite all appearances, Jason was not okay. His time on the dark side had left him deeply scarred and insecure. Jason himself didn’t even know how hurt he was on the inside. Jason secretly wanted to cry into his father’s shoulder and be comforted. But Batman could offer no real comfort; he had never killed. Bruce couldn’t wrap his head around what his son had experienced. Jason was a different person, a complete stranger. _

_ In the end, Jason had driven off on his Harley and hadn’t been heard from since. That didn’t mean he hadn’t been heard of. No, the Batfamily knew what Jason had become. He was a gun slinging vigilante, living “the ends justify the means”. His hands were as red as his mask, taking ease over the noble. Yes, he worked for the greater good, no civilians were harmed. But anyone who played a small willing role in whatever evil he was fighting at the time was considered in the line of fire. Jason was an antihero. _

_ And on that happy note, let’s get back to the story. _

_End note._

Stephen had to take a moment to let everything sink in. He knew the identity of Batman and his close allies. That kind of information...he had to be careful with it. It was something he needed to know for what was to come, but that didn’t mean it was his to share. He shook his head and returned to the story before him.

_The Batkids were fighting upstairs. Tim and Damian had ganged up on Grayson to steal the remote. They were tired of watching the Greatest Showman. They were in a tangled mess when the doorbell rang. Everything froze. No super used the doorbell, but nobody came up the long road to the manor unless they were somebody important._

_Damian looked slyly at his brothers and faster than the Flash on ice, extracted himself from the pile-up, grabbed a pair of binoculars, and rushed out to the balcony that overlooked the living room. Tim tripped over Grayson, who grabbed his foot, as they tried to beat each other out the door._

_They raced after their youngest brother and almost tackled him before Damian held up a finger for silence. Tim and Grayson froze instantly with all the skill of trained ninjas, which they were._

_Damian hadn’t even turned to look at his brothers, his binoculars fixed on something down below._

_In a low, sly voice, he said “The Butt-ler has guests. I think they’re from Lex Corp.”_

_Tim plucked the binoculars from Damian, who had too much discipline to voice his displeasure._

_Tim focused the binoculars. “They’re name tags say they are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”_

_“Ah,” Grayson said wisely, “the Mormons. I hear they sacrifice chickens.”_

_Damian gulped. The Robin had a soft spot for domestic fowl. His loyal companion Jerry was a turkey and had once felled a supervillain on his own._

_Damian reclaimed the binoculars, putting them up to his eyes. “Whoa! Bat Dad is listening to them. Wait, is that a tear I see?”_

_Grayson gasped in shock. “Impossible! Bat Dad doesn’t cry. He can’t!”_

_“Let me see!” Tim cried._

_The boys fought over the binoculars for a minute before Grayson got his hands on them and lifted it above his head. The younger two let him look._

_“Whoa, he is crying! In front of strangers!”_

_Damian was next to look, and his jaw hung open in shock. For the first time in Robin history, the kid was speechless._

_Tim was next. “Why does Bruce look so happy?”_

_Grayson and Damian looked at each other and nodded seriously. “Magic.”_

_Tim rolled his eyes. “Wait, they’re talking some more.” Tim was truly puzzled now. “They’re all crying now, even Alfred. The Elders are giving dad a strange book. The Book of Mormon.”_

_“The mind control device, I presume. “ Grayson noted gravely._

_“We should burn it.” Damian suggested._

_Tim was not so sure his adopted father needed saving. “I don’t know guys. Bat Dad isn’t stupid, and neither is Alfred. Maybe there’s more to this than meets the eye.”_

_Bruce turned his head and the boys scampered out of view, taking a vow of silence._

* * *

_The book immediately became a permanent part of the Batman/Bruce Wayne ensemble._

_Bruce took it to business meetings disguised as a folder of statistics. He read it during every meal. He read it in bed and on the treadmill. He read it Alfred as the butler drove him around._

_As Batman, Bruce kept the book in his utility belt. He read it on patrol and during monitor duty at the Watch Tower. He even read it during Justice League meetings. This had caused an accidental reenactment of Leonardo’s Last Supper, with a thoroughly engrossed Batman in the center._

_This strange behavior had not gone unnoticed by the Robins. Grayson had called a secret meeting of all the Robins (once a Robin, always a Robin) in their secret rooftop headquarters, The Nest._

_“It’s definitely the book.” Grayson stated._

_Tim didn’t bother to ask what he meant._

_Damian nodded. “We must burn it.”_

_Grayson agreed. “Tonight. I bet he sleeps with it. We’ll have to sneak it from his grasp.”_

_Tim rolled his eyes and snapped shut the book he was reading. “Has nobody realized how much nicer Bat Dad’s been the last few days? I think maybe this strange religion isn’t so bad after all.”_

_Grayson and Damian looked at Tim like he’d just sprouted butterfly wings._

_“You think he’s possessed too?” Damian asked in all seriousness._

_Tim got up and left, mumbling “weirdos, idiots, morons, ….” until he was out of earshot._

* * *

_As it turns out, Bruce did in fact sleep with the book. But only because he would fall asleep while reading it._

_Whether it was a testament to how sleep deprived Bruce had been of late or Damian’s skill, none could tell. But Bruce remained fast asleep when the ceiling panel above his bed was moved aside and a black-clad thirteen-year-old descended upside down attached to a cable. In one hand Damian held a pair of tongs. Slowly, he lifted the book out of his father’s grasp. He was halfway back up when Bruce snorted. Damian nearly wet his pants (which would have made a rather awkward situation worse) and almost dropped the book. He barely recovered and frantically motioned to be pulled up faster._

* * *

_Down below in the Batcave, Grayson was flustered. “I’ve run every test in existence! The book seems to be just an ordinary book.”_

_“Then we need to run a test that doesn’t exist yet!” Damian demanded._

_“I think the ‘magic’ you two idiots are looking for is in the words. Listen to this…”_

_Grayson and Damian turned to see Tim calmly reading the book._

_“YOU’RE NOT READING THAT, ARE YOU?” they cried in unison, leaping to save their brother from his folly._

_In the scuffle to snatch the book away from Tim, it fell open on the ground. Grayson and Damian froze, locking Tim in between their bodies. The book was rather close to Damian, who leaned over to get a better look at the devil device._

_“’Cast stones at them with his sling…could not be hit…smote off their arms”’ Damian began to read. “Whoa, who is this guy?”_

_Curiosity overcame the boy and he picked up the book._

_“NOOO!” cried Grayson, reaching out a hand to reclaim his partner in crimefighting._

_Apparently, the boys were louder than they thought. Or Alfred had ways of keeping tabs on them in his sleep that the boys hadn’t yet learned how to bypass. Because at that moment Alfred threw open the door to the stairway to the Batcave in full view of the boys._

_Damian threw the book as if it were about to explode. He and Grayson scattered in opposite directions and took shelter behind various large objects._

_That left Tim standing there with the book in his hands looking for all the world like he had been caught holding a gun._

_“What is the meaning of this?” Alfred demanded, looking wildly about for the reason for all the noise._

_“Robin and Nightwing think you and Batman are possessed.” Tim said meekly, which was unusual for him._

_Alfred blinked in confusion. “Why?”_

_“Because Batdad cried in front of strangers.”_

_Alfred sighed deeply. “That’s what Bruce gets for being so cold.” He said to no one in particular. To the Robins, he affirmed “No, Bruce and myself are not possessed. Why don’t you talk to the Elders yourselves and learn why Master Bruce was so overcome with emotion?_

_“And get bewitched?” Damian cried from his hiding place._

_“No way!” Grayson added from wherever he had hidden._

_From behind Alfred came a deep, unmistakable voice. “Attendance is not optional. Now, who has my book?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I liked a different version of the batfamily and changed the Chronicler's Note to reflect that.


	4. And Your Sins, Though They Be As Scarlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Strange enjoys more of the Batfamily Circus Teenage Boys Act.

Stephen smiled at the family drama. What did he expect from a family of entertainers? He almost wished he had some popcorn because the show wasn’t over.

* * *

_Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Damian Wayne sat on the couch together, facing their greatest enemy yet. At least, that’s how Damian and Grayson saw things._

_Damian and Grayson glared accusingly at Elder Mckoy and Lee. The Elders met their gaze coolly._

_Bruce barely suppressed the urge to face palm._

_“Is it true you sacrifice chickens?” Damian demanded accusingly._

_“No, do you?” Lee asked pleasantly enough._

_Damian was caught off guard by that._

_McKoy saw his opening. “So,” he said, clapping his hands together “who’s read some of the Book of Mormon yet?”_

_“Alfred and I have nearly finished it,” Bruce informed the Elders._

_“I just finished reading the book of Jacob.” Tim added._

_Damian looked guiltily at the ground in front of him. “I really liked the part where Jesus healed the sick. It made me think of Babs.”_

_Bruce smiled gently and put his arm around his son, pulling him close. “Me too.”_

_But Damian wasn’t done yet. “But my favorite story was about Alma the Younger. It made me realize how much I wanted Jason to come home.”_

_Damian refused to look up, to let anyone see the tear that threatened to fall. Heavy silence filled the room._

_This wasn’t the intended lesson, but it was clear that mistakes had been made. Mistakes that had resulted in this Jason leaving home with ill will. Mistakes that plagued the conscious of this family. McKoy only hoped Lee was receiving the same inspiration._

_He was._

_“We all make mistakes.” Lee began. “Some worse than others. But making mistakes was always part of the plan. How we come back from them is what matters.”_

_“Jesus Christ came to Earth to save of us from our mistakes.” Mckoy added. “In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross, He took upon Himself the sins of the world and paid for them with His blood. He experienced the agonies and joys of every individual so He could know how best to help them in their time of need. While He cannot take away the consequences of our actions, if we come to Him, in the eyes of God our sins are no more. They will not keep us from living in His presence once more. We will be forgiven.”_

_Lee picked up the flow once again. “The process of gaining forgiveness for our sins is called repentance. Repentance helps a person get over his mistakes and emerge better than before. The steps of repentance are simple in nature but can be incredibly hard. In order to repent, a person must feel remorse for his actions. He must confess them to the Lord and forsake them. He must do all that he can to set right what he has made wrong. And he must be willing to forgive all, including himself.”_

_The message had been short and sweet. It had also been impactful. The family spent a minute pondering all this._

_“You mean to tell me” Damian asked “that when I repent, God doesn’t remember what I did wrong anymore? My past doesn’t matter to him, just what I choose to do now?”_

_The Elders nodded._

_Damian looked thoughtful. “I like that.”_

_“Any questions?” McKoy asked._

_Everyone shook their heads. Except Grayson; he tentatively raised his hand._

_“Everything you just said makes total sense. But I’ve really got to know this; is it really true that you guys don’t wear flip-flops?”_

_The Elders smiled and shook their heads._

* * *

_Bruce was sitting at the Bat Computer, opening the most heavily encrypted file on his database. It was his personal journal._

_Bruce usually wrote in it every day. But the last week had been a blur of conflicting thoughts and emotions. He had just now been able to sort them out._

_**Beginning of Log Entry** _

_**This last week has changed my life.** _

_**It all started when Alfred invited the Elders over. I had no intention of listening to their message. I had long ago lost my belief in God. I wasn’t going to eavesdrop either, but then I remembered my father’s words. “When people share what they believe, pay attention.” So, I decided to give them 5% of my attention.** _

_**5% became 10%, then pretty soon it was 100%. I’d never heard such a message of hope before. As the Elders spoke of eternal families and a God who gave up His only son to save a wicked world. I could relate to a God like that. And according to the Elders, He made that sacrifice so all families could live together again. Was it really possible that I could be with my parents again?** _

_**Cold logic said it was a lie, but I felt something stronger inside. It testified that what the Elders said was true. That I could be part of something more, more than Batman.** _

_**What I felt was indescribable. It brought me to tears. It reminded me of when my parents were still alive. I wanted that feeling to stay.** _

_**When the Elders started to leave, I asked them to wait. At the door, I couldn’t hold in my question any longer. What was this feeling and how could I get it to stay?** _

_**Elder McKoy explained that it was the Holy Ghost, a spirit who testified of truth. Then he gave me a book. He said that the words of this book would bring that spirit into my life. He encouraged me to read it and act on the things I learned. Then he bore testimony of Christ, God, and the truthfulness of the book. Tears were shed and none of us felt ashamed.** _

_**I knew right then that this wasn’t some superstitious cult. What the elders, this book, had to say had the power to change my life for the better.** _

_**I couldn’t put the book down. It’s called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of** **Jesus Christ. It’s a record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and their beliefs. It’s better than any self-help book Alfred’s ever forced me to read, more powerful than any other work of religion or philosophy I’ve encountered.** _

_**When I came across the invitation of a prophet named Alma to experiment upon the word, I couldn’t resist the challenge. Here would be the proof my scientific mind was craving. Alma said that the reader could judge the truthfulness of his message by acting on what he taught. If obeying the words of this book improved my life, then the message was true. If not, I knew it was false. Either way, I had nothing to lose. I resolved to take Alma up on his promise and keep the commandments of his god.** _

_**The results were baffling. All areas of my life improved. I was getting along better with the members of the Justice League. The boys had quieted down (I later discovered this was because they were spying on me, but still!) An old lady on the street gave me, Batman, cookies. For the first time, I could go to bed satisfied that I had done my best.** _

_**It’s been hard. It was a dark day in Gotham when the Elders helped us destroy the coffee maker.** _

_Bruce paused, smiling at the memory. Damian had been in the cellar gleefully smashing wine bottles like Animal from Muppets. Alfred’s eyes were a bit misty as he threw his tea bags in the garbage can. Tim had been allowed to disassemble the coffee maker for spare parts. Grayson was busy getting rid of anything else in the house “that was not up to For Strength of Youth standards”._

_The next day had been hard as most of the family suffered coffee withdrawals._

_Bruce continued typing._

_**But that’s not the hardest part by far. I’m finding it difficult to live the gospel as Batman. I know what I’m doing is important. I prayed about giving up the mantle, and I think the Lord nearly slapped me. But there are definitely things I could be doing better as the Dark Knight. I’m just not sure what and how. I can’t turn to the Elders for obvious reasons. I’ve been praying for guidance, even trying this new thing called fasting. I just wish there was someone I could turn to, an equal. Someone who understands my work, has hero experience and gets why I do what I do and how I do it. I need someone who could show me how to balance my newfound beliefs with defending Gotham.** _

_Bruce paused, lost in distant memory._

_**Someone like Fierra.** _

_**End Log** _

\----------

Stephen was intrigued. The vision had not revealed a Fierra to him. He assumed they were a woman, someone significant in Batman’s life. Once this vision ended, he’d have to look into that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a really cool font in Google Doc for the Log Entry (VT323) but I couldn't figure out how to translate it over into AO3. Any advice would be appreciated.  
> Big shout out to IHateTheCold and an anonymous guest as the first to leave kudos! The first commenter will be even more beloved. Or come say hi at   
> https://karlyanalora.tumblr.com/


	5. Bat Baptism

_ Mission Presidents looked over the missionaries. When anything outside the norm happened, missionaries went to their Mission President for help. Well, the Wayne family was not normal. Anyone in Gotham could tell you that. _

_ And that’s why Elder McKoy was writing an email to his Mission President. It went something like this: _

_ “Dear Mission President, _

_ “Elder Lee and I have a very promising family of investigators, the Waynes. Bruce has been amazing, embracing every new challenge and commandment. Granted, some of the lessons were more awkward to give than normal. But Bruce has made all the necessary lifestyle changes, much to the disappointment of Gotham’s female population. I believe his family is ready. But they’re hesitant about moving forward into the waters of baptism. _

_ “It’s not a question of conversion. Bruce spends every spare minute re-reading the Book of Mormon and studying the gospel. Damian can describe the events of every verse in the war chapters with perfect accuracy, along with the gospel applications he’s learned with Alfred. Tim delights in Isiah. I think Grayson has secretly memorized every Nephi quote and we’re even teaching his girlfriend, Barbra. _

_ “I believe it’s a matter of confession. Bruce has hinted that he fears his being a member might spoil the reputation of the church. He’s also acknowledged some of his actions will require attention from higher authority before he can be baptized. Knowing the rumors, I didn’t ask. I think these things are hard for the family to talk about. They don’t want to repeat their confessions multiple times. Last night, Bruce asked me what should be confessed. I told him what my bishop told me, ‘When in doubt, let it out.’ Could they just start off with a pre-baptismal interview with you? _

_ “Thanks, _

_ “Elder McKoy” _

* * *

_ Elder McKoy’s Mission President, in all his years of church service, had never expected this. _

_ He had been sitting in his office waiting for the Wayne family when there had been a knock. On his second-story window. _

_ Curious, he went to draw back the curtains to come face to face with the Dark Knight. _

_ The Mission President was a little startled, but he quickly opened the window and welcomed Batman inside. And Nightwing. And Red Robin. And Robin. And someone who looked to be a masked butler. (The rumored Agent A perhaps?) _

_ “Have a seat.” The Mission President kindly offered. He had set up enough seats for the Wayne family, which turned out to be the perfect amount for his unexpected guests. _

_ After his visitors were settled, the Mission President asked how he could help. _

_ Batman looked around nervously. Red Robin fidgeted in his seat. _

_ Finally, Batman spoke. But it wasn’t the voice the mission president expected. _

_ “Actually, we're here for our appointment with you.” _

_ The Mission President started dumbly as Gotham’s guardian lifted back his cowl. His companions removed their masks. _

_ Before him, the Wayne family and Alfred Pennyworth looked up at him nervously. _

_ Oh, yeah. This was going to be complicated. _

* * *

_ Much to everyone’s relief, everything that needed to be said and done had been handled within the week. A baptismal date had been set for the whole family. _

_ True, they had all been a little nervous when Damian started talking about his time with the League of Assassins. No one had exactly known whether Robin had ever actually killed anybody. _

_ But everything was good to go. _

_ Things at the Justice League hadn’t been going as smoothly. _

_ Within 24 hours of the Elder’s second visit, it seemed like the whole Justice League knew Bruce was “hanging out with the Mormons”. If it hadn’t been obvious from the Book of Mormon he carried around and how open he was to talk about what he was learning if anyone asked, there had been the mysterious changes. _

_ The first time Batman had said a prayer over his food in the Justice League cafeteria was awkward. Batman had been very subtle about it. He sat in the corner, bowed his head, folded his arms beneath the table, and almost soundlessly offered a short prayer of thanks. _

_ No one confessed to pointing it out first, but in a matter of seconds, the whole cafeteria was leaning over in their seats to get a better view of the Praying Bat. _

_ He refused to acknowledge them until he had finished his prayer. Then he calmly turned around to look at his fellow superheroes. “Can I help you?” he asked, the picture of sincerity. _

_ Everyone quickly turned away and began eagerly eating and talking again, clearly embarrassed to have been caught staring. Batman turned back to his meal as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. _

_ Then there had been that weekly meeting shortly after Batman had started taking the discussions.  _

_ Everyone had been discussing something, nothing that important compared to what happened next. Superman had offered a solution, but it had gotten lost in the crowd of voices. (Clark was never very good at being heard during meetings. He preferred to go unnoticed when he could. That was impossible in public, but with the League, he was normal enough to fade into the background during discussions.) But Batman had heard him. _

_ In his best business meeting voice, Batman had said “I think we should implement Kal-El’s idea. I don’t think everyone heard it though. Superman, would you care to repeat what you said earlier?” _

_ Superman was at a loss for words. He wasn’t the only one. The whole table had fallen silent. They were all staring at Batman. _

_ Flash wanted to make sure he had heard the Bat correctly. “Did you just say Superman had a good idea?” _

_ Batman gave the speedster a quizzical look. “Yes, is that so surprising?” _

_ No one said anything and the meeting resumed, concluding with the implementation of Superman’s idea. _

_ Despite everything, the announcement that Bruce was getting baptized had still come as quite a shock. _

_ “You, Batman, are going to be a Mormon?” Wonder Woman had asked incredulously. _

_ “Dude,” Flash said, hands raised in a gesture of peace “I’ve got nothing against Mormons. They’re awesome! They are absolutely the nicest people out there, even if they are a little different. You just surprised us, buddy. You’ve never exactly been religious before.” _

_ “First, it’s the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And yes,” Batman conceded, “I know I can be downright hostile about religion.” _

_ Superman looked uncharacteristically nervous and distrusting. “I didn’t even know they believed in Jesus.” _

_ Cyborg was a little shocked by his idol’s decision, maybe even worried for Batman. “I’ve heard strange things about Mormons. Are you sure…?” _

_ Hawkgirl placed an uncharacteristically gentle hand on Batman’s shoulder. “We’ll come. Anything to support you. We’ve all noticed how you’ve changed since you started reading the Book of Mormon.” _

_ Batman smiled at her, gratitude evident behind the mask. Religion was a hard topic for Thangarians. A powerful being had enslaved them by claiming to be a god. The battle for freedom had been long and costly. Even if it had happened thousands of years before Hawkgirl’s time, she had had to face the banished being herself. She had killed him, but not before losing a friend in the process. _

_ Flash broke the moment. “Yeah, I don’t think you’ve made a single disparaging comment about Superman for over a week!” _

* * *

_ The day of the baptism arrived. Bruce had specifically asked that Elder McKoy be the one to baptize him, and the Elder had been all too happy to oblige. Alfred, Grayson, Tim, and Damian had also been baptized while Babs and Commissioner Gordon’s baptismal date was set to be sometime in the next two weeks. _

_ There was a large turnout for the baptism. Members of the LDS church from all over Gotham had come, each having been helped personally by the Wayne family in their time of need. How they had all heard about it was something Bruce would never know. For Bruce, it was a happy reminder of all the burdens he had helped to lighten. _

_ Several Justice League members had also come, ignoring the risk that all of them together might reveal some secret identities. Vik Stone, aka Cyborg, had even created a holographic projector so he wouldn’t draw attention with all his cybernetic parts. Barry Allen, aka the Flash, had brought his wife Iris and her brother, Barry’s sidekick Kid Flash, Wally with him. Lois Lane and her husband Clark Kent had brought their son Jon, who was surprisingly one of Damian’s few true friends, with them. Jon was happy to support his friend, despite how rocky their friendship had begun. (Damian had been very vocal about his distaste for Superman and his son, but Jon had proven a worthy ally and soon friend. Though Damian still had trouble admitting how much he cared for the half Kryptonian.) Lois was eager to learn more about the Mormons from the missionaries, having been impressed with the changes in Bruce. Clark looked a great deal less comfortable about the whole situation. _

_ Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, had come to support his fellow millionaire crimefighter. His adopted son Roy Harper, aka Speedy or Red Arrow depending on the day, had come to support his fellow Teen Titan Nightwing. That was why Wally was here too. Donna Troy, Wonder Woman’s “sister”/clone known as Wonder Girl had come for the same reason. Together, they had formed the first incarnation of the Teen Titans as the original teenage DC heroes, if only as sidekicks. _

_ Shiera Hall, aka Hawkgirl, had come alone. She had sat in the front, clearly uncomfortable, but with a smile full of trust and support. She had come as a civilian, which meant she had to force her beautiful wings into a brace and stick them underneath her dress and jacket. It wasn’t comfortable, but she had done it so she could be here. She was pretending in more ways than one to be something she was not. _

_ But she was here. An act of true friendship if there ever was one. _

_ After the baptism, Lois had begun pleasantly enough grilling Elder Lee. It wasn’t malicious, just overly eager. Thankfully, Elder Lee’s enthusiasm to share the gospel was a perfect match for Lois’s own fire. _

_ Elder McKoy was leaning against the wall contentedly. Bruce managed to extract himself from the throngs of well-wishers and came to join the Elder. _

_ “The tabloids are gonna love this.” McKoy noted. _

_ Bruce grimaced and gave a pained chuckle. “I’m sure they will. But I’m of the opinion that decent people don’t read those things. Hey, don’t you go home tomorrow?” _

_ McKoy nodded sadly. “I’m going to miss all this.” He said, gesturing to everything around them. “I’m going to miss everything about being a full-time missionary.” _

_ “Remember the first Sunday I came to church?” Bruce asked. _

_ McKoy couldn’t hold in a small burst of laughter. He quickly caught himself, but he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. “Boy do I! You and your family calmly walked into the chapel and sat in the very front row. You were the picture of normalcy. I was sitting in the stand, preparing to give a talk. From where I sat, I could see the whole ward staring at you in open shock. Oh, what I would have given to have a picture of that!” _

_ Bruce handed McKoy a small present. “Consider it a parting gift.” _

_ McKoy opened it and laughed. “Now, how did you get that?” Inside was a small framed picture of Bruce Wayne and his family sitting in the first row of pews in an LDS chapel, the whole congregation staring at them. _

_ They shared a good chuckle before Bruce spoke again. _

_ “Elder McKoy, thank you. You have no idea what you have started, how many lives you have touched. You will never know what you just accomplished.” _

_ McKoy brushed the compliment off. “No missionary does.” _

_ Bruce smiled. Yes, he thought, but not every missionary baptizes a superhero. _

* * *

_ The Wayne and Gordon families sat together in the Wayne’s living room doing family scripture study. 12 hours ago, they had said farewell to Elder McKoy. _

_ Bruce stopped reading mid-verse when the doorbell rang. But it wasn’t the front doorbell. It was the doorbell for one of the secret entrances, the one a superhero used when they were in trouble. The family dropped the scriptures and went racing to the door. Bruce reached the door first, the rest of the group right behind him. But when he opened it no one was there. Off in the distance you could hear the roar of a motorcycle. Bruce bent down and picked up a brown paper package. He closed the door and walked slowly back to the living room. The group followed him back, trying to get a peep at the object in his hands. Bruce sat down, the package in open view. He tore open the paper to reveal a worn and marked Book of Mormon. On the cover was a note with a simple message. _

_ “Because I love you. -Jason” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am tempted not to post the next chapter until someone leaves a comment.


	6. Rising Stark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I’ve never actually watched Endgame. Nor do I desire to watch any of its clips. But I read the synopsis on Wikipedia. So, bear with me for this first paragraph.  
> Nor can I do justice to the greatness that is Gwen Stacy.

_ The battle was over, the clash of weapons silenced. Tony Stark watched Peter walk away with Rhodey. Poor kid, Tony thought, he doesn’t deserve to lose another father figure. _

_ But lose one he would. Tony could feel his life slipping away. Peter would never know how much his little halting speech just now had meant to the man of iron. To the rest of the world, it must have looked like Tony had been looking past Peter, oblivious. But no, the kid had had his full attention. Tony had truly been seeing Peter. Somehow in those few brief moments, Peter’s entire life had played out in front of his hero. He saw Uncle Ben and Gwen, how their memory tore Peter apart every day. Peter had never even told Tony about Gwen. And for Peter, losing Tony was like failing Gwen in a way he could never make right. _

_ Tony registered Pepper kneeling by his side. _

_ “Hey.” _

_ “Hey, Pep.” _

_ Tony faintly registered Pepper’s question to Friday and the response. _

_ Tony looked deeply into the eyes of the only woman in the universe who mattered, the love they shared filling his soul. I should have married her in 2008, he thought. _

_ Pepper smiled. "Tony, look at me. We're going to be okay..." _

_ Tony could feel tears welling. I’m sorry. He tried to communicate that single thought to her. How he was sorry that he wasn’t strong enough to stay, how he couldn’t say goodbye to Morgan. Sorry for everything he had ever failed to do or be. _

_ Pepper seemed to get the message. She caressed his face gently and planted a small kiss. _

_ Tony could see his world fading to black, Pepper’s smiling face still clearly in his mind’s eye as he heard her words. _

_ “You can rest now.” _

_ Everything went black. _

* * *

_ Tony bolted up in bed so suddenly he could feel the mattress jump beneath him. He was disoriented and deeply confused. He looked around his bedroom. His bedroom! Gone was the battlefield where he had… Tony paused. Yep, he was positive he had died. _

_ He stared down at his hands in disbelief. Not only were they moving and his heart clearly pounding in his chest, but his hands looked no worse for wear. _

_ Tony got up and walked to a mirror. He looked perfectly fine. There wasn’t even scarring from his final fight with Thanos. _

_ Tony walked through the familiar hallways of his home, meandering his way to the living room, just soaking up the normalcy of it all. _

_ He emerged from the hallway into the living room where Morgan and Pepper were sitting on the couch looking at family photos on the tablet. _

_ Pepper was explaining each photo. “This one is when the Avengers threw a birthday party for Dr. Banner. Tony was so proud when he saw the grin on Bruce’s face.” _

_ Tony didn’t wait for them to look up. In typical Tony style, he asked “Pepper, why am I not dead?” _

_ Pepper and Morgan’s heads jerked up. Pepper’s mouth formed a small o and she dropped the tablet. _

_ “3000!” Morgan cried, flying off the couch into her father’s arms. _

_ Tony sank to the ground, holding his daughter close to his beating heart. In less than a millisecond Pepper had her arms around him, bathing him in kisses. Tony could feel a wet spot growing on his shirt from Morgan’s tears. Tony stared ahead in a daze, caressing Morgan’s hair, the truth finally sinking in. Anthony Stark was alive. _

_ Tony didn’t know how long they had been hugging and kissing each other on the living room floor when Happy walked in with his afternoon coffee in one hand and phone in the other. _

_ “Yes, May. I saw the new Spider-Man movie from reality 365. Yeah, I’m really glad that wasn’t as accurate as all their other films, as in it never happened. Well except for the parts about, uh, you and I of course, and MJ and Peter’s relationship. I’m so glad the two are friends now, though I don’t know how she figured out…” _

_ At that moment Happy made eye contact with Tony, who had his eyebrow cocked in amused curiosity. _

_ Happy dropped his coffee. _

_ “Uh, hey May, I’m gonna have to call you back. Bye.” _

_ “Pick up your coffee, you’re going to ruin my carpet.” Tony couldn’t hide his grin. “So how does Peter feel about this, Uncle Happy?” _

_ “Uh…happy?” _

_ From over his shoulder, Tony heard Pepper gasp as she suddenly remembered something. She unwrapped herself from around Tony’s neck and took his face in her hands, giving him the ultimate death stare. _

_ “I don’t care what else you decide, but you are talking to that boy today and telling him you’re okay, or so help me, Tony, I will divorce you!” _

_ Tony nodded very quickly. “Happy, can you get Peter over here within the hour?” _

_ “S-sure thing, Tony”. Happy walked out. “Hey, May, sorry about that. But I really need to speak with Peter in person…” _

* * *

_ Peter walked into Tony’s old lab. Technically it was his now, but to Peter, it would always be Tony Stark’s lab. _

_ “Hey, Happy,” Peter called out, “you said it was about Tony. Is it a pair of glasses…?” _

_ Peter froze mid-sentence. Bent over a worktable was a familiar head of black hair. Tony stood slowly and turned around. Peter stared in disbelief. _

_ “Well, are you going to stand there and gawk or are you going to come and give your old man a hug?” _

_ Tony opened his arms and Peter ran into them. _

_ The two hugged, tears streaming down both their cheeks. _

_ “Mr. Stark, if this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.” _

* * *

_ If anyone had looked up, they might have seen Spider-Man and Iron Man sitting in the middle of a giant donut eating donut holes. _

_ But no one ever noticed them. _

_ Aunt May had told Happy that this was a silly fantasy of Peter’s. Tony had been all too happy to oblige. _

_ “So,” Spider-Man said in between bites “I am not allowed to tell anyone that you aren’t dead.” _

_ “Not a peep.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ Tony had been waiting for this. “Underoos, being alive is hard work. My normal life involves plenty of paparazzi, press conferences, and calls from Nick Fury. The first two would be even worse if I was suddenly ‘resurrected’. I just need time to be with my family, to be just another person in the crowd. Because when you’re dead, people will look you in the eye and only see what they expect too. A guy who could have been a Tony Stark impersonator.” _

_ “But don’t you think that is a little selfish? What about the Avengers?” _

_ Tony hung his head. He’d heard how they had all mourned him. He’d heard how Captain America had vanished after the fight. He wanted to tell them, but… _

_ “I’m not ready for that yet.” _

_ Peter nodded, understanding. “So, you really died?” _

_ Tony immediately felt sick. The sound of laser fire filled his ears, the scent of burning filling his nostrils. He wasn’t on a rooftop anymore. Tony was back battling Thanos. _

_ Tony didn’t know how long it was before the flashback passed. _

_ He swallowed. “Yeah.” came the strained reply. “I died.” _

_ There was silence for a while. _

_ “I know that I died. I can feel the memories of the last six months of being dead are somewhere in the shadows of my mind. But I can’t seem to get to them. _

_ “But that’s not what bothers me. I want to know why I’m here, why I’m being given this second chance, and what power is giving it to me. I want to know why I wasn’t allowed to rest.” _

_ That last sentence hurt Peter. He whirled on Tony. _

_ “Mr. Stark, don’t you ever say something like that again!” he said sternly. Then shoulders slumping, he continued, voice shaky “I can’t lose you, not again.” _

_ Tony’s shock at the outburst quickly faded, and he gave a sad smile. The kid had grown up more than Tony had given him credit for. _

_ “You miss her, don’t you?” _

_ Spider-Man looked up at him. “Who?” _

_ Tony smiled sadly. “You miss Gwen Stacy.” _

_ Spider-Man’s eyes grew as wide as his mask would go. _

_ “After your little speech,” Tony explained, “by the way, I really appreciated that. But when you were giving it…” Tony paused, trying to explain just what had happened. “I saw your whole life, kid. At least, the important bits. I saw you losing Uncle Ben. And I saw your friendship with Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy. I saw how close you two were, like siblings. And I saw what went down with the Green Goblin, what happened to Gwen, and who the Goblin turned out to be. And, Peter, I want you to know I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do what you did.” _

_ “You’re not mad?” _

_ “Letting Norman Osborn go free and piece back together his life with his son was the right call. I’m proud of you.” _

_ Spider-Man’s relief was evident. Peter had always been worried that someone would find out what really happened that night years ago. Not that he would get in trouble, but that someone else would. _

_ The vision changed suddenly, leaping back years to simpler times. _

* * *

_ Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy had been best friends since they were little. They were both brilliant, with a love and knack for all things science. Gwen would have gone on to win Nobel Prizes someday. Chemistry and medicine, engineering, and programming, Gwen had tamed them all. But when it came to theoretical physics, the possibilities of same universe time travel, connecting with the multiverse in meaningful ways, stepping between both time and space, she left Peter and everyone else in the dust. _

_ Gwen was brilliant and she knew it. She wasn’t prideful, just confident. Nor did things come “naturally” to her. She had to still put plenty of work in. But she had a gift and she wasn’t going to let it go to waste. _

_ Gwen had met Peter in first grade. It was the middle of the school year and the teacher introduced him to the whole class. Peter had been staring at the ground and Gwen could see he had been crying. Gwen’s great big compassionate heart had gone out to the boy. So when she saw him sitting alone at recess, she had gone up and introduced herself. _

_ “I’m Gwen.” She had said in a very mature way, thrusting a hand out. _

_ Peter had looked up at her with red-rimmed puppy eyes. _

_ Gwen had dropped the hand and swiftly moved to sit next to him. She put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. _

_ “Why are you so sad?” _

_ “My parents died.” _

_ At that, Gwen had pulled Peter in for the biggest hug she could manage. “They must have loved you very much.” _

_ Peter had started bawling. _

_ Gwen just held him until his sobs died down to sniffles, glaring at anyone who pointed or whispered. _

_ “Who’s going to take care of you?” she asked. _

_ “My Uncle Ben and Aunt May. They’re really nice, but I had to move.” _

_ Gwen nodded sagely. “Don’t worry about making friends,” she’d said, “you’re already mine.” _

_ Gwen became a common sight in the Parker home almost immediately. And as Peter got older, she became his tutor as well as a friend. They were both brilliant. But if it wasn’t math or science-related, Peter stunk at it. English was the worst. _

_ But Gwen had a natural gift for those subjects too. She loved English and aced Social Studies and History. And Gwen got her buddy Peter Parker through all his classes. Gwen had a natural grace that Peter so clearly lacked. She exuded fire and confidence. A truly great communicator, she could have been popular. But that would have meant abandoning Peter. And that was simply out of the question! _

_ In the middle of grade school, Ned moved in. In class, he immediately became the fat kid. Gwen had gotten one look at his sad face when a peer kicked his butt to watch it jiggle and gone full Momma Gwen. She had talked the offender into shame and gotten a teacher’s attention without losing any social graces. Her righteous fury had cowed any future butt kickers. _

_ That very same day, in the Parker apartment eating cookies, a duo had become a trio. _

_ Harry Osborn appeared at the beginning of 7 _ _ th _ _ grade. _

_ He had charm and a perfect sense of style. He always dressed sharp, even back then. He was generous, equally polite to everyone. He didn’t approve of bullying and would put a stop to any he saw, but he was laidback enough to enjoy the company of the cruder crowd as long as they didn’t do anything stupid when he was around. _

_ His father didn’t believe in buying his son good grades. And Harry had horrible grades. Not because he was lazy. No, the kid really tried. He had ADHD and dyslexia for both words and numbers. _

_ Gwen, Peter, and Ned had been studying in the library when Peter noticed Harry sitting in the corner growing increasingly frustrated with his reading. _

_ Harry Osborne felt a slight tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see a scrawny kid his age with a concerned look on his face. _

_ “Do you want some help? English isn’t really my thing, but I have a friend who could help.” _

_ “Nah, I’m good, but thanks, man.” _

_ “Are you sure? She’s just over there.” _

_ Harry looked over the kid’s shoulder. Sure enough, sitting at the table was a gorgeous blonde girl and a chubby kid. She was giving Harry a look over the edge of her book that simultaneously said two things: if you dare hurt his feelings, I will kill you and you would be incredibly stupid not to take up his offer. _

_ Harry smiled. He liked this girl; she was fiery like his mother had been. And his mom had managed to teach him everything he knew so far, right? _

_ By the end of the afternoon, the four musketeers were dying of laughter. Harry looked around the table and realized he had struck gold. Here were a good bunch of kids his age who wanted to be his friend because of who he was as a person. Not because he was charming, handsome, athletic, or rich. They liked Harry because he was Harry and they understood him only as his mother had. _

_ Gwen had been really sick in the hospital when Peter had been bitten by the spider. Harry and Ned had told her about how he had freaked out on the field trip when a spider had landed on him. She had been in the hospital when her parents had told her Peter’s Uncle Ben had been killed. And she had heard people talking in the halls about this “Spider-Man”. _

_ She had gone back to school and noticed Peter sleeping in science class and immediately connected the dots. _

_ When the bell at the end of the day rang, she’d grabbed Peter by the arm and pinned him against the lockers in an abandoned hallway. _

_ She got her face right up in his and quietly growled. “I know you’re Spider-Man. So, when were you going to tell your best friend in the whole multiverse?!” _

_ Gwen immediately regretted being so harsh (she was still kind of out of it) when Peter started bawling. _

_ Never mind they were both almost 14 now, it was just like the day they first met. Gwen wrapped Peter in a hug as they slid down to the floor. Peter clung to Gwen as his entire body was wracked with sobs. Blessedly, they were undisturbed as the whole story spilled out. Gwen shed a few tears of her own as she heard how Uncle Ben had died and why Spider-Man was born. _

_ From then on, Gwen was Spider-Man’s one-woman support team. (The costume might have been better if she knew how to sew.) She covered for him at school and home, helped him keep his grades up without cheating, maintain his secret identity and relationships, and made sure he found time to sleep. She was also extremely invested in helping him fight the mysterious Green Goblin. During their many battles, Gwen and Peter had concluded that the Green Goblin had fallen victim to some sort of serum. _

_ That fateful night the job of saving the world required two brave individuals. One to fight the Green Goblin and another to stave off the impending doom the fiend had designed. _

_ Before parting ways to their respective duties, Gwen had handed Peter two things. She seemed kind of subdued. She handed Peter a specially designed syringe that would fit into his web-shooters that she had 3D printed herself. “It’s the antidote for the Green Goblin” she had explained. _

_ The second item was an encrypted USB drive. Peter had asked what the password was. “You’ll know it when you see it.” had been her reply. _

_ He’d pocketed it, too distracted to ask what it was for. Gwen had grabbed his hand. She looked him in the eyes, her expression unreadable and full of emotion at the same time. _

_ “Swear to me you will never stop being Spider-Man.” _

_ He promised. And a promise to Gwen was one he would die before breaking. _

_ “Good. Do that, and everything will be alright.” _

_ Gwen did her job quickly and well. The battle between Spidey and the Goblin was fierce and for a long time it consumed all of the combatants’ concentration. But despite our heroes’ best efforts, while Peter struggled to recover from a fall, the Goblin had spied Gwen. Spider-Man was still too disoriented to do anything when the Goblin had grabbed Gwen by the front of her shirt and lifted her up to his sneering face. _

_ The Green Goblin moved his flying contraption over to where Spider-Man could have a clear view of them. _

_ “Look what I’ve caught!” the mad villain had cackled. “Gwen Stacy, if memory serves. So, she’s been the one helping you all this time. Goodness knows you couldn’t have defeated me on your own all those times.” _

_ The Goblin was staring straight at Spidey the whole time as Gwen struggled in the villain’s grip. Spidey’s vision cleared just in time to see Gwen’s hand fly up with a small flash of silver to a bit of exposed flesh on the villain’s arm. _

_ The Green Goblin cried out in pain and dropped Gwen. _

_ Spider-Man managed to thwip off a single line of webbing, which wrapped around Gwen’s waist. But as any Spider fan knows, he was too late. Webbing or no, there was no way anyone could have saved Gwen Stacy that day. _

_ But poor Peter had thought maybe he had. The Green Goblin was forgotten; Spider-Man had swung down to the street below. Chattering about what a close call that had been, Peter had cut the line and gently lowered Gwen the rest of the way to the ground. He was too high up still to really get a good look at her, to see how Gwen’s body hung limply. Not until he landed and noticed Gwen still lying on the ground did he suspect something was wrong. _

_ “Gwen?” _

_ Peter knelt by his best friend’s side, ripping off his mask to get a better look. But the truth was already clear as day. Gwen Stacy was dead, an empty syringe of Green Goblin Antivirus still in her hand. _

_ “Peter?” asked a confused voice from above. _

_ Peter looked up and through his tears and saw his other best friend’s father, Norman Osborn, looking ridiculous in the costume of the Green Goblin. _

_ “Peter, I’m so sorry. For everything. I was blinded by my greed and I became a monster. I didn’t know you were… I’m a terrible man…” Norman Osborn caught sight of Gwen. “Will she be all right?” _

_ Peter Parker, the boy who knew no hate, simply said “She’s dead Mister Osborn.” _

_ There was no accusation in his voice, no blame. _

_ “Sweet God, have mercy on my soul.” _

_ Norman Osborn nearly crashed his Broomstick in his haste to land. He rushed to Gwen’s side, desperately searching for a pulse. Peter stood there and let the man try. They both knew it was too late. Peter wept silently while Osborn howled with the anguish of a man damned, clutching Gwen’s cold hands in his own. _

_ At long last, the man who was once the Green Goblin fell silent. _

_ “I suppose I’ll be arrested now. Not that I deserve any better.” _

_ Peter shook his head firmly. “No Mister Osborn, Gwen wouldn’t want that and neither do I. Harry deserves to have a father. The Green Goblin is dead; Gwen killed him. Just promise me you’ll finally give Harry the attention he deserves.” _

_ Norman Osborn merely nodded, the great business tycoon to overcome for words. _

_ The Osbornes left New York the next day, Harry having no idea why. Norman needed time to heal, and he couldn’t do that with the constant reminders of what he’d done. Not with the sad boy he’d tried so many times to kill. But he would come back when he could stand it. Norman Osborn would atone for his crimes, and it would start with having Peter’s back. _

* * *

_ The vision returned to the men on the roof. _

_ “How did you find out?” Peter asked. _

_ “I was in a business meeting with Norman for the first time, when afterward he took me aside and told me about a young hero he knew. A kid who was real Avenger’s material. _

_ “I looked into it and saw how you had handled some decent sized villains. I saw how you had apparently bested the Green Goblin since he had disappeared. I was impressed. So, I picked the S.H.I.E.L.D files. They had plenty on Peter Parker. _

_ “It was after you died that Norman approached me. He felt he owed it to your memory to make sure nothing dishonored Spider-Man. So, he told me about the night Gwen Stacy died. He told me, Fury, and Natasha. We all decided you had made the right call. As long as Norman would provide information on other villains he’d worked with in the past, he was a free man in the eyes of the U.S. Government. _

_ “But no one had known about Gwen Stacy until then. We figured she would have liked to keep it that way.” _

_ Peter smiled as he wiped away the tears. “Yeah. She always said she only wanted S.H.I.E.L.D to have her information if she worked there. And then that was optional.” _

_ Tony chuckled. “She sounds like quite the girl.” _

_ “You would have liked her. Pepper would have adored her. She would have managed to keep even you out of trouble.” _

_ “I highly doubt that.” _

_ Peter chuckled, “You have no idea…” _

_ They sat there together in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Tony reached his arm around Peter’s shoulders and pulled him closer. Peter tensed in surprise but soon relaxed. Tony subtly pulled Peter closer until the teen was comfortably snuggled into the older man’s side. Peter didn’t even realize he had leaned his head against Tony’s shoulder. Nor did he realize how tired he was. _

_ Tony smiled when Peter mumbled “I love you, Dad.” in his sleep. _

_ “I love you too, kid.” _

* * *

Stephen wanted to pull out of the vision so badly, but once you started, you had to finish. He wanted to leap up and find Tony, to see if this was past or future. To grab him by the shoulders and yell at him for not telling him he was back. He took comfort in the fact this was his reality he was seeing and that was a fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, just one comment! I'm losing steam here. You can even be anonymous.


	7. Iron Man's Search for Meaning

_It nagged him, bugged him to no end. Someone had saved his skin and sent him back into the world of the living. But who and why? Why was he of all people getting this second chance at life?_

_Not that he wasn't grateful of course; he hadn't wanted to die and didn't plan on doing it again anytime soon. Dying was uncomfortable and scary. He had been fighting hard to hold on until Pepper could come, the one thing worth living for: his family. He longed to just once not forget Pepper's birthday and remember she was allergic to strawberries. He couldn't wait to watch Morgan grow up, to chase off the boyfriends with an ion laser. But he had known he wouldn't make it and he worried for the love of his life and his precious 3000. So, when Peps had finally come and told him they would be ok, he knew she was right._

_And then out of the blue he had come back._

_Someone or something had allowed him to take a break, to heal both body and mind. When he returned, he felt ready to face any challenge. He had been frightened before, but during the night, while he slept, someone had comforted him and given him strength, and he had awoken in the morning invigorated. He couldn't remember where he had been or what he had seen, but he knew it was important._

_One thing was for certain; Tony was an atheist no more. The only thing he could remember clearly from being dead was the perfect love. Whoever had saved him didn't care about what was the best for the universe; they cared about what was best for Tony Stark._

_So if he wasn't an atheist, what was he? What did he believe in?_

_Tony turned to research. He read up on every philosophy and religion, wrote to their great thinkers (using a pen name of course), even had Peter pilfer some of Doctor Strange's texts. The millionaire found no answers, nothing that held the whole truth. It was driving him nuts._

_Sitting on the couch with ancient mystical texts surrounding him, Morgan and Peter, his faithful research assistants, Tony exclaimed "If there is a God in heaven, why won't he let me find him?"_

_Ask and ye shall receive._

* * *

_The Gotham library had an ancient religious text within its walls and it was not allowed to leave the confines of the library. Pepper was trying to convince the leadership to let her scan the document with a high-tech gadget Tony had invented for the occasion, assuring them it wouldn't harm the manuscript._

_Tony had gotten tired of waiting in the hotel and spontaneously decided to take up jogging. After all, if Captain America could do it, so could he._

_Pulling on a hoodie and obscuring his face, Tony hit the streets. It was a nice part of the city, and he was dressed so casually no one would give him a second thought. One problem: being dead had not been kind to Tony's fitness levels._

_Of course, Tony was too proud to admit this. Steve had taken up running as soon as he had thawed out. It had been over a month since Stark had been "resurrected"; he could survive a short jog._

_Wrong._

_Tony felt like he had just snapped the Infinity Gauntlet as he collapsed on his back in the middle of the busy sidewalk._

_A young head of black hair peered over Tony's face from above. Tony couldn't stay ticked at the smug grin the kid had on his face._

" _I think you should leave the jogging to Captain America, Stark."_

_Shoot, the kid recognized him!_

" _I'm sure you have reasons for being 'dead' so I won't tattle. But you better let me help you up before some less understanding Good Samaritan shows up."_

_Tony groaned; yeah, he wasn't making it back to the hotel room on his own and he really didn't want to call Happy right now. The situation was already embarrassing enough. "Fine, you win, kid."_

" _Call me Damian."_

_The kid helped the man back to his room and Tony didn't give him a second glance as he made his way to the snack bar. When he came back, he was surprised that Damian had made himself at home in one of the armchairs._

_Stark quirked an eyebrow and looked from the kid to the still open door. "The door is that way kid."_

_Damian merely clicked his tongue as if mocking a small child and fixed the man with a look._

_Tony went on guard; he recognized that look. Widow used to give it to the Avengers when she wanted the truth and wasn't leaving until she got it in its purest form._

" _What do you want?" he asked suspiciously._

" _I'll take a cookie for starters."_

_Tony was about to retort when the boy leveled another glare that somehow scared him worse than the Black Widow ever had. The kid was uncanny, he thought to himself as he dutifully retrieved a pack of Oreos._

_Upon his return, Damian wasted no time. "How did you fake your death? It was quite impressive; I didn't know your wife was such a great actor."_

" _She isn't, you stalker. I didn't fake a thing."_

_It was the kid's turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow. "So, you really died? Who or what brought you back? I'm interested to know." The kid's shock was minimal as if he'd seen this before._

" _You and me both, kid!" Tony began to pace. "I'm pretty sure it had to be a god, but I'm not sure which. Any of the ones I've met don't have that kind of stuff. I've even turned to religion, but none of those crackpots seem to have the answers either; none of their men-upstairs feel right. I got to know why I am here in the first place, not just why I'm back." Tony covered his face with his hand. "Why am I talking about this with a ten-year-old stalker?"_

" _Twelve" Damian corrected coolly. "So, you want religion, do you?"_

" _No, I want the truth. I don't care where it comes from and I'll know it when I find it."_

" _Even if it comes from a 'stalker'?"_

_Tony looked up. The kid was serious, eyes glinting with underestimated intelligence, a keen understanding. Tony suddenly knew that if this kid belonged to a church, it wasn't because his parents forced him to attend. Damian wouldn't just believe it was true; he would know. He'd have analyzed the heck out of just what he was signing up for._

" _What do you have in mind, Stalker?"_

_Damian pulled out a worn blue book and handed it to Tony. "It's the Book of Mormon, the most correct book on Earth. You might not see all the answers at first, but trust me, they're there." There was a fire in the kid's eyes, intense. Reminded the billionaire of Black Widow when she was beyond dead serious, like when she vouched for someone's character. Tony had quickly learned never to doubt her testimony._

_Tony cocked yet another incredulous eyebrow. His eyebrow was getting sore by this point. (He made a mental note to learn to cock the other.)_

_Damian scoffed. "What? You've tried everything else, why not give this a shot?"_

_Tony shook his head, a grin stealing across his face. "You've got guts, kid, I'll give you that much."_

* * *

_Damian promised to keep Stark's secret as long as he kept in touch._

_Tony had attempted to brush him off, but the kid was persistent. Damian had proceeded to define "keeping in touch": exchanging numbers, weekly face to face meetings, and being allowed to meet Pepper within the next month._

_Tony had attempted to intimidate the kid into backing down from his demands. If you had walked in on them, you would have witnessed a staring contest of bravado that belonged in the moments before a gunfight in an Old Western movie and went on far too long._

_In fact, it went on until Pepper came back. They didn't even break eye contact when she opened the door and stared at the two of them._

" _Tony, who is this?"_

_Neither male blinked as Tony answered. "Peps, meet Stalker. Stalker, meet Peps."_

" _My name is Damian, Mrs. Potts. I am returning your husband after I found him sprawled on the sidewalk like a beached whale. My reward is quite reasonable; I wish for him to keep in touch."_

" _Weekly face to face meetings are a little much…"_

" _You're asking me to keep a secret that men would kill to know."_

" _Explain yourself," Pepper said to both of them, but mostly Damian._

_So Damian did._

" _He'll do it, Damian."_

_Tony broke off the cool dude staring contest to give his wife a quizzical look. "I'll do what?"_

_Pepper gave him a look that said, 'Why did I ever marry you?' and 'Are you serious?'. "This young man is offering to keep his mouth shut about something that could make him wildly famous._

" _He seems to be an intelligent kid and Morgan could use a friend. No one her age is anywhere close to her level of maturity and any kids who are won't treat her as a big person. She's lonely, Tony."_

_Damian's demeanor softened. He could feel for the child. Being far more grown-up compared to your peers was a struggle he could relate to. From the way Pepper was talking, Morgan had a maturity level to match someone like himself. Unfortunately, he didn't know any tweens, much less teens, who could look at a five-year-old as anything more than cute._

" _Where is Morgan?" he asked gently._

" _Still at the library. She met a nice librarian named Barbra who agreed to let her look at some of the more ancient texts."_

_Tony nodded._

_Damian shrugged. "Well, if I'm going to be Morgan's friend, I don't see why I can't befriend this idiot too."_

_Tony squawked in protest, but inwardly he was having a hard time squashing his growing like for the kid._

* * *

_Pepper smiled fondly as she sipped her lemonade. Damian had been teaching Morgan kung fu the last couple of months along with some "less orthodox" moves. Her father had decided to humor her with a brief sparring match and was now curled up on the floor of the boxing ring (and makeshift dojo) moaning softly. Morgan had just kneed him in the crotch in a move that left Pepper with déjà vu and Happy roaring with laughter._

_Damian, who had quickly dropped his professional big worded manner, was hooting and fist pumping from the sidelines._

" _Victory!" he shouted while Morgan stood smiling proudly, one foot planted firmly on her prize._

_Pepper gave a small chuckle._

_Damian had become Morgan's champion and Tony's partner in crime. Pepper had a hard time convincing herself the two weren't related. The two males were both clever, sarcastic, narcissists with no tolerance for perceived idiots. They bantered and debated about everything from science to law like two equals despite their differences in age._

_Tony had even bought an apartment in Gotham because both he and Morgan felt "a week was too long to wait in between fun". Tony had arranged for Peter to come down next week and meet his "own personal Stalker"._

_Morgan was staring down at her father smugly. "Tony Stark has fallen and I, Morgan, am now the leader of the Avengers!"_

" _Correction, cute stuff, I never led the Avengers."_

_She glared at him. "3000, you are ruining the moment. You're supposed to beg for mercy."_

_Tony flopped his head to the side so he could look at Damian. "This is all your fault, Stalker."_

" _That and many other things."_

_It was true. Besides being a quipping partner, Damian had shaped Tony into a better man._

_On one of their early visits, during a particularly heated discussion about the Accords, Tony had said "What the f…" and got no further._

_Damian leveled him with such a glare of reprimand, Tony felt the word die in his mouth. The look clearly said 'There are children present, and how dare you cuss anyway!'_

_Frantic to save his soul from the boy's wrath, Tony glanced around for redemption. Spying an apple and its sticker, without missing a beat he finished his sentence "fuji."_

_Damian gave him an approving nod. "Interesting phrase, Stark. I like it."_

_Tony had since curbed his foul mouth and replaced his curse words with more "Captain friendly vocabulary"._

_Tony had read the book Damian had given him and come to realize it was true. Of course, that was after Morgan had read it first and pestered him into reading it for himself. He had held back, spying on Morgan as she and Pepper had decided to go to an LDS meetinghouse._

_He had almost chucked the book then and there at the dirty looks some of the young women gave her. Some spitefully even confronted her in the hallway about her father's womanizing ways. He nearly sent an Iron Man suit to handle the miscreants when a small voice piped up from behind the teens._

" _Hey, you big meanies! 'He who is without sin, cast the first stone.' I saw you kissing Danny Thompson in the church parking lot, so you're one to talk, Sister. Iron Man was a hero and I have no doubt Jesus threw him a party in heaven. So scram!"_

_The lead girl turned to hiss at the speaker, a young girl almost nine years old with blue eyes and golden pigtails. "Scram, Katie, no one wants to deal with a little brat like you."_

_The little girl glared right back, but the words stung, and she looked like she might cry. "I said leave her alone."_

" _You and what army?"_

" _You mess with one Powers, you mess with all the Powers." Said a blonde fourteen-year-old boy with Katie's same eyes. Behind him was a ginger haired girl of twelve and brown haired freckled ten-year-old boy. Tony had pieced together these must be Katie's siblings. Behind them stood a brown haired man with glasses, his arms crossed and glaring._

_The teenage girls shrunk back. "Oh, hi Bishop Powers." And proceeded to scramble away, saying they would be late to class._

_Pepper came into the room and began speaking with the man, thanking him for standing up for her daughter. Katie's siblings, mission completed, left._

_Katie rolled her eyes and turned to Morgan with a big smile. "The Church is true, but people can still be jerks sometimes. I'm sorry they made fun of your Daddy, you must miss him. Do you want me to take you to class?"_

_Morgan smiled back and stuck her hand out._

_Katie stared at it in surprise, taken back by the professional confidence. "I take it you're not like most five-year-olds then. You're what my Daddy calls 'mature', aren't you?"_

" _Yeah, I'm extremely intelligent for my age. A regular Matilda, Happy says."_

" _Hey, I read that book with my family for stories!" Katie looked at her in horror. "And they were going to put you with the Sunbeams."_

_Morgan looked equally disgusted. "Yes…"_

" _Oh, we can't have that! The little kids just eat snacks and sing songs, you'll be bored to death. I'll take you to my big brother Alex's Sunday School class. He'll make sure everyone is nice to you and I'll explain you're a big kid like him…"_

" _If it's alright, I'd like to stay with you."_

_Katie looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. "But I'm not smart like you. You belong playing with kids like my brother Alex and sister Julie, not some little kid like me. I'm stupid."_

_Morgan put her little hands on her hips and Tony nearly burst with pride from where he sat monitoring her._

" _Dr. Banner taught me that if you don't let someone be your friend because they're not as smart as you, you're the stupid one. I want to be your friend. Can I please go to class with you?"_

_Katie looked at her hesitantly. "You sure?"_

" _Positive."_

_Katie beamed. "Hooray! I can tell you and me are going to be BFFs!"_

_As Katie scampered away, happily dragging Morgan behind her, Tony decided this church couldn't be all bad. Sure, it had some rotten apples. But if it could produce kids like Katie Powers, there must be some truth to it._

" _3000, you've spaced out again."_

_Tony blinked and looked up at his daughter. "Morgan, Daddy is a space case."_

_Damian's phone buzzed and he glanced at it. "I got to go, Tony. My dad needs me."_

" _I can drive you…"_

" _Nah, I've got this. See you later."_

" _Later, Stalker."_

_Tony watched his young friend leave. Damian talked about his father constantly, and the more he talked, the more Tony wanted to meet the man. Tony felt like he'd known Damian's father his whole life after all he'd learned about him and he had the greatest respect for him. He felt that if they met, they would get each other. It would be a great friendship of equals._

_Tony had wanted to hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D to find out more about Damian's family and the all important last name. Pepper had forbidden him; Damian had respected their privacy by not revealing them to the world. They could respect his desire to tell them about himself on his own terms. Tony had grudgingly honored her request._

_What Tony could not know was that Damian talked just as much about him with his father. It was Tony this and Tony that all through patrols. Batman was pleased that his son was finally making some friends, even if it sounded like Tony was more Bruce's age. He respected his son's wish not to have him encroaching on the friendship or researching his friend's background._

_Bruce and Tony both hated not being able to find more out about the other. They hated not knowing but knew to trust Damian. Bruce had learned the hard way that if he were to go against his son's unspoken wish, there would be a loss of trust. He couldn't afford that; Damian was hard enough to guide as it was._

_Truthfully, he was more interested in meeting Tony. He sounded like someone Bruce Wayne could be friends with, someone who wouldn't know him as Batman but might come to know Bruce as he truly was, not the façade he put on in public. Bruce didn't really have anyone like that, and he may or may not have secretly been praying for someone like that._

_As had become tradition on patrols lately, Batman said "This Tony sounds like an interesting person. I would like to meet him sometime."_

_Robin bit back a smirk; Batman was essentially asking the same thing Stark did at least once every meeting. Up 'til now, he'd always brushed both off with a "Wouldn't you."_

_Batman was a bit shocked when Robin stroked his chin contemplating. "I don't see why not. He's been taking the missionary discussions, so I was thinking of inviting him to the ward swim party."_

" _That would be good."_

_Tony had taken more convincing._

" _What part of 'dead men don't go to swim parties' do you not get?"_

" _It's ok, Stark, we all know you can't swim. Which would you rather: water wings or a life vest?"_

" _I should have never told you and Morgan that. But this is not about…"_

" _How you utterly fail in every attempt at physical activity?"_

_Tony glared at Damian. "No, it isn't. This is about maintaining my cover."_

_Damian had enjoyed their ongoing banter, but now it was growing tedious. He played his trump card._

" _I was going to introduce you to my father, but since you're not interested…"_

_Tony was interested and he knew the little weasel knew it. His curiosity always trumped caution and Pepper grinned from where she sat watching them. It was always entertaining to watch their snark levels feed off each other._

" _Fine," Tony Stark growled "this dead man 's going to a pool party."_

_Damian grinned. "Oh, don't feel bad. Morgan is bound to enjoy it and she can even bring her friend Katie Powers along."_

" _You really are a stalker."_

" _No, I just listen when Morgan wants to tell somebody about how her playdate went."_

" _Yay!" cried a small voice from surprisingly nearby._

_Tony turned his head to see Morgan spring from her hiding place to go invite Katie. To Pepper, he said "Did you know she was there?"_

_Potts shook her head._

" _I'll make a fine assassin of her yet." Damian said with pride, and Tony, not for the first time, wondered if he was completely joking._

_It was a good thing Damian stuck around to help the small family get ready._

_When Tony walked out in his Speedo, Damian snorted the water he had been drinking out his nose._

" _No, just no." Damian pinched the bridge of his nose. "I said swim trunks, Tony, swim trunks."_

" _What? Pepper loves it when I wear these."_

_Pepper looked like she was going to die from embarrassment and Morgan looked like she had just stared death in the face._

" _3000, please put on some pants."_

_The pool party turned out to be a rather small affair and Tony soon realized everyone was either too young to care about more than hanging with their peers or too busy wrangling small children to notice anything strange about him._

_Tony was shocked by the lack of bikinis and the fact most of the women were pregnant._

" _Pepper, why are they all pregnant?"_

" _Good grief, Tony! You don't just ask why people are pregnant!"_

_Damian grinned maliciously. "Well, Stark, when two people love each other…"_

_Morgan turned to Katie. "Operation: Save Damian from Saying Something He Will Regret is a go."_

" _Roger, Gold Leader."_

_The girls turned and unceremoniously tackled Damian into the pool._

_Morgan crawled out first and power punched her father as they watched Damian drag himself out while Katie clung to his legs._

" _Stark, if you wish to meet my father, I suggest you get this child off me."_

_Katie let go with a giggle and dove back into the pool, Morgan at her heels. Some women came over and started talking with Pepper. Tony drifted away and followed Damian to the far end of the pool._

_Something felt off. There were far too many teenage girls watching a pair of brothers splashing in the pool and something felt off about the man at the other end of the pool. He was way too familiar, and Tony felt a growing sense of unease the closer they got to him. The man looked like he felt the same way._

_Damian stopped right in front of Bruce Wayne and gestured to Tony Stark. "Father, this is my friend Tony, the one I've been telling you so much about. Tony, this is my father, Bruce Wayne, that you've been so eager to meet."_

_The two men stared at each other apprehensively._

" _Well, I'll leave you two to it." Damian ran off. "Hey, Grayson, wait up!"_

_The two stared at each other a bit longer in awkward silence. Under any other circumstances, they would have dug into each other with verbal barbs and eagerly parted ways. But after hearing so much about the other from Damian, they realized the only thing preventing a beautiful friendship was their own stupid pride. And they had both recently grown humble enough to realize that was a stupid excuse._

_But one does not simply go from loathing the idea of a person to instant besties. So, they watched the swimmers for a while._

_Tony had never been comfortable with silence and, in an effort to break it, it would bring about his most cringe worthy lines._

_From somewhere in the crowd, a little voice could be heard. "Hey, Damian, why does your Daddy have a furry chest?"_

_They could also hear Damian's reply. "We call it his Man-Bat."_

" _Why doesn't the other guy have a Man-Bat?"_

_Damian made eye contact with Tony, totally deadpan. "Because only real men have Man-Bats on their chests."_

_Tony looked down at his hairless chest as Bruce tried to hide a grin. "It's not every day my masculinity is brought into question by a twelve-year-old kid. Is he always like this?"_

" _You have no idea." Bruce said a chuckle._

" _Oh, I think I have a clue."_

" _He certainly hangs out a lot with you. You're all he ever talks about." Bruce added._

" _I could say the same about you." There was a brief pause. "What does he say?" Tony asked._

" _Enough to make me want to meet the amazing man."_

" _Same here. You know, it's a wonder I didn't recognize him as a Wayne. But I'm glad I didn't; then I would have been too stubborn to give him a shot. I'd have missed out on an incredible friendship."_

" _Yes, if he'd mentioned who you were, I probably would have tuned out all the good things he had to say about you. What do you say we shove aside our differences for once?"_

" _I'm game as long as you agree to the terms of the contract."_

_Bruce cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would those be?"_

" _Oh just exchanging numbers, weekly face to face meetings…."_

Oh, Tony, Stephen thought, you have no idea what you are getting into. Though, the same could be said for Bruce. Who was ever ready for the snark that was Stark?


	8. Foxglove

_She had never known freedom; never seen the sky nor felt sunlight on her skin. All she had ever known was the glow of fluorescent lights and walls of steel. But if this worked that would all change._

_They had moved her to a different location and the new guards had placed her in a new cell. One with a ventilation grate. It was heavily fortified with lasers and sensors to prevent it from being a viable escape route. But it was a mistake nonetheless, one the guards would be berated for later._

_But by then it would be too late._

_She held in her hands not only her hope, but the only chance at freedom for all those she loved. A small, swirling, blue orb full of memories hovered in her palm as she used her body to shield it from the view of the hidden cameras._

_Gently, she slipped it past the grate and sent the orb rolling along. She prayed it would find its way to the outside world and bring back help._

_In the outside world, the blue sphere was pushed out of a vent by a puff of exhaust. It rolled onto the abandoned street and skittered along the gutter, finally coming to rest against a black booted foot. A black gloved hand reached down and picked it up. Inhuman eyes gazed at the orb as it lit up the orange and white mask of a fox._

* * *

_Lex Luthor lay on the cot in his cell, a barred window in the ceiling letting in the light of the moon. He did not stir as the bars were removed and the glass gently lifted._

_No one would have been the wiser if Superman had not been keeping an eye on the prison. His nemesis had just been arrested and the details made it seem too good to be true. Lex had not put up a fight; he had been so out of it some thought he had been high. He hadn't, so Kal-El assumed it was some sort of trick._

_So, when he scanned over the building and picked up two bodies instead of one, he went to investigate._

_A woman knelt over Lex Luthor. She had a full head of red hair and wore knee length black boots and long black gloves. Her chest and front were white, while her arms, legs, and back were a reddish orange that matched her hair. The real tail completed the fox costume and glowing white eyes looked out from her mask._

_Silently, tenderly, she tried to coax Lex into a standing position. He did not wake up, merely moaning softly. The woman suddenly stiffened, head jerking up to gaze at the skylight._

_Superman hovered just outside the open window, arms crossed and looking thoroughly ticked. "I really don't…"_

_He never got to finish his sentence._

_Quick as a flash, she laid Lex down and lunged at the superhero. Sharp claws appeared and she swiped them down Superman's arm before he could react. He stared down in shock at the bleeding scratches, wondering how she could have harmed his titanium skin before the overwhelming need to sleep hit him. He gently fell to the roof with a satisfying thunk._

_Not waiting to see if the Man of Steel was truly out, the woman scooped Lex up in her arms and leapt out onto the roof._

_She ran across the rooftops and was almost out of normal sight when Superman regained consciousness._

_He turned on his comm. "Emergency alert to all nearby Justice League members. An unknown villain has just broken Lex Luthor out of jail. They are extremely dangerous, and managed to knock me out before I could do a thing."_

_A familiar voice crackled over the line. "Good thing I was visiting. Batman out."_

_Yellow headlights flicked on just as the villain dropped down in front of the Batmobile. Batman cocked an eyebrow; though the figure had moved far too quickly for him to get a good look, it seemed to be taunting him. It clearly knew he was parked there but had chosen to land in front of him anyway._

_He peeled out of the dark alleyway only to find the street empty. He glanced at the rooftop, spying the villain leaping across them, already far off in the distance. Batman floored the accelerator, but every time he got close, they would leap in a different direction. Every time it would be somewhere the street didn't turn, forcing him to overshoot and find someplace to turn and then relocate the fugitive._

" _Kal-El, I could use some help."_

" _Sorry…Bat…man. Whatever knocked me out…is still in my system. It's making…flying…hard."_

" _I guess saving the day is up to me again."_

_Batman was feeling more than a little miffed by how difficult the chase was proving, especially since the villain seemed to be enjoying it._

_After having sped past them and turning down yet another street, he slammed on his brakes, fishtailing to a stop. Standing in the wide-open intersection was the villain, a swirling vortex of blue behind them. She made eye contact with him and Batman's eyes widened in recognition. After making sure the hero had seen them, the woman and her cargo fled, the vortex closing behind her._

_Superman commed. "Any luck?"_

" _No, she got away." But Batman had a good idea where to find her._

* * *

_Batman drove slowly back to the Batcave. He parked the Batmobile and trailed his finger softly along its hood before climbing the stairs to the computer console. He had barely begun to type when he sensed her._

" _It's been a long time." He said without turning._

" _I know." Said a voice behind him._

" _Any particular reason you didn't just let me know it was you sooner?"_

" _Bruce, Bruce, Bruce," the voice clucked "you know I had to make it look good."_

_Batman smiled a bit and turned around to face the woman he had just been chasing, her mask nowhere to be seen. Blue eyes twinkled at him and he removed his cowl._

" _Fierra…" he began._

_But she held up a hand to stop him. "Now, don't go asking me questions I can't answer. You know I would have told you if I could."_

" _You just broke a supervillain out of prison. What am I supposed to do? They don't know who Foxglove is."_

_The woman, Fierra, moved toward the computer console and ran a finger down its keyboard. "I guess you'll just have to trust me. I'll let you know once I have all the details, but so far it's only a hunch."_

" _A hunch?" he asked teasingly._

" _For now, yes."_

" _So, I suppose you'll be wanting me to keep quiet about this?"_

" _Naturally."_

_Bruce shook his head. "I haven't seen you in ten years and you're leaving me with nothing but a hunch. How typical of you."_

_Fierra looked at him, miffed. "Oh, stop your belly aching. If I'm wrong, you'll wake up one morning to find Lex back in his cell."_

" _And if you're right?"_

_She smiled. "I'll let you know." And with that she transformed into a bat and flew away._

_Batman slapped his forehead. "A bat? Really?" How typical of her. He punched the wall._

_Alfred appeared and noted the action. "And who might that have been?"_

" _Your niece."_

" _I take it you didn't ask her."_

" _Didn't get the chance."_

" _Patience, Master Bruce, your chance will come."_

* * *

_Foxglove came through the window of her home, slipping in, her boots hitting the ground soundlessly. Her costume fell like water from her body as her mask receded into nothing. Fierra opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway._

_Hevy, a tan skinned man with jet black hair and firm, muscular build, gently fed a starved wolf, another wounded animal he'd picked up over the last week. Fierra watched as the hardened soldier whispered to the beast, intelligence flickering in the animal's eyes._

" _Another guest for the preserve? You're going to run out of room eventually." she said teasingly._

_Hevy smiled, his brown eyes twinkling warmly. "I might, ma'am, if it wasn't a rehabilitate and release sanctuary. Sentient beasts are rare enough, I'm proud to give them a helping hand."_

" _I always took you for more of a weapons man."_

" _Any decent soldier knows you can't replace nature's warriors. With proper training, they'll always outperform any machine."_

_Fierra agreed with that. She'd seen it on other worlds, places where horses still rode into battle and defeated great rolling machines that made cars and tanks look slow and weak. Perfect examples of a symbiotic relationship between man and beast where sentience was acknowledged in both and their combined forces became unstoppable._

_She planned to support Hevy's dream of helping any sentient animals along, training them to aid humanity if returning to the wild wasn't an option. She had several people lined up who were willing to keep their mouths shut. They already had wolves working as mountain rescue animals, mice detecting land mines, and birds running surveillance._

_Foxglove paused and looked at Hevy carefully. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, shoulders hunched forward, head low, not his usual straight-backed head high stance._

_She silently raised a comm as she entered her "healer's hole" as Hevy had dubbed it._

" _99, will you please make sure your brother Hevy goes to bed soon? I don't think he's been sleeping well lately; I'm going to fix up something to help."_

_::Will do, ma'am, thank you.::_

_Fierra was a healer, it was part of her name. Foxglove: a poisonous flower of great beauty that with some tweaking could become a medicine. Lifesaving when used right, lethal otherwise. Like her alias, Foxglove knew how to heal and hurt._

_She selected herbs and flowers she'd gathered from across the globe and beyond, and mixed them into a glass of hot cider. Satisfied, she left and walked up the stairs, pausing to glance at the wolf._

_Can I trust him? he asked._

_She gave a brief nod and continued on her way._

_Fierra entered Hevy's room and set the glass down on his nightstand. She glanced around the room and noted the variety of weapons that lined the walls along with the floor covered in dozens of books on animal rehabilitation. Humans were not two-dimensional beings; they were full of seeming contradictions._

_She walked down the hallway to a different door and knocked. "Come in" said a quiet, husky voice._

" _How is he, 99?"_

_99, a wrinkled, deformed fellow with a slow eye and hunched back, stood by a bed and looked up at her with a sad expression. "He's not well, mistress, not well at all."_

_Fierra knelt beside the bed. 99 moved aside to reveal Lex Luthor's unconscious form._

_Lex's skin was pasty and he was drenched in sweat. He moaned feebly and felt cold to the touch._

" _We have to get him healthy enough to survive a level five brain scan," Fierra commented, "but whatever we need the scan to find is probably what's making him sick."_

_99 looked at her with admiration. "M'lady, if anyone can heal him, it's the great Foxglove."_

_Fierra was flattered and set to work. After a few minutes Lex had relaxed and stopped moaning._

" _Keep him warm and comfortable, 99. Let me know when he wakes up. But first, go get that brother of yours to bed."_

_99 hobbled out the door, leaving the two alone._

_Fierra sighed. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're causing me? I'm a hero, I don't go breaking villains out of jail; I put them in there. And now Batman knows I'm here. Can you believe it? I want to be out of Gotham as soon as possible; if I stay too long trouble will find me. He'll try to help and…"_

_She fell silent and focused on easing Lex' pain. She placed a wet cloth across his bald head, where, if her source was to be believed, the trouble came from._

_After a few minutes, 99 came back in. "Out like a light, m'lady, that drink really helped. He promises to let you know if he has any more nightmares."_

" _He better; I can't heal what I don't know is broken."_

_99 hesitated, thinking. "M'lady? Does this have to do with…?"_

" _It might, but don't get your hopes up. If he dies, we lose our lead. If he lives, we might finally have a chance. But those are very big ifs."_

_99 nodded. "How did breaking him out go?"_

_Fierra groaned._

" _That good, eh?"_

" _Well, the Justice League thinks I'm a dangerous villain now..."_

" _Not completely wrong."_

" _and the Dark Knight is on to me."_

" _Batman? I did some research, like you suggested. He seems like an extraordinary man, right up your alley."_

" _Oh, that will be the day."_

_99 gave a low chuckle. "When will you recognize that deep down, he's still the man you knew?"_

" _Sounds like you did more than just a little research."_

_99 shrugged. "What can I say? Espionage is contagious."_

* * *

_The first bounty hunter was sighted at Red Robin's favorite deli at 9:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. He had a criminal record as long as the Batmobile in fine print. And rumor had it he was the first of many who would come to Gotham hoping to collect the various bounties on Lex Luthor's bald head._

_Bruce absently wondered how they'd tracked the man to Gotham. He knew Fierra would be furious about that. He briefly toyed with the idea of letting Foxglove handle the scum on her own; she'd appreciate having someone to punch. Or he could help._

_Helping was preferable; it was an opportunity to talk. He simply had to make sure he wasn't followed. He was not in a situation where he could explain Foxglove to the Robins._

_He suited up and started the engine of the Batmobile._

" _Hey, wait up!"_

_He peered in his rearview mirror to find Grayson, Tim, and Damien running to join him. "Why didn't you say it was time for patrol?" Tim asked, slightly offended._

" _You all stay inside tonight."_

_Damien frowned and folded his arms, "You only say that when things are getting serious, Father."_

_Grayson snickered. "Like a date." he joked._

" _Possibly."_

" _Shut up Grayson-Wait, what?" Tim exclaimed._

_But the Bat dad was gone._

_Foxglove was there first. She had just finished knocking the bounty hunter's lights out when Batman stepped out._

" _I see you didn't need me."_

_She turned and cried. "Look out!"_

_In one smooth motion he ducked and turned in a crouch. Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn't fond of him that evening. The second bounty hunter's knee was coming up for a kick and connected with Batman's jaw, leaving a glorious bruise. Fortunately, it threw the hunter off balance and he fell, cracking his head against the ground hard enough to knock him out._

_Foxglove grimaced. "Ouch, rotten luck." She came over and offered a hand. "Does the Bat have a booboo? Want me to kiss it and make it better?" she teased._

" _A kiss would be nice." Batman teased back, taking the offered hand._

_Foxglove let go of him before he could fully stand, sending him stumbling backwards, "Don't be a dork." she scolded._

_For a moment Batman was worried he'd been too crass, but Foxglove smiled and he relaxed. It was good to have her back, even if it was only to beat up bounty hunters. Speaking of which…_

" _I thought there was only one."_

" _There was. Lex had a tracker in his bloodstream, but I managed to turn it off. Sorry for the trouble, but I can't move him now."_

_Batman glanced at the two downed men. "That was over faster than expected. You doing anything tonight?"_

" _Yes. Dropping these men off at the police station and taking care of the half-dead man in my house, thank you."_

_Batman nodded understandingly. Then made a slightly more dramatic than necessary wince as he turned his head to look at her._

_She raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Oh, come on you big baby. I might be able to spare thirty minutes." Then in a mocking tone she added, as if speaking to a small child who just fell off his tricycle, "Besides, we can't have you going home like that. Alfredo will wonder where you got such a big booboo."_

" _It's not a 'booboo', it's an injury and I don't know who you are referring to."_

" _Right, and Clark Kent is definitely not Superman."_

_Fast forward a few minutes as Batman and Foxglove dropped in from the roof of the F.O.X Café._

" _Now get in and get changed. Just ask for the 'private restroom'."_

" _Get changed? I thought you were just fixing up my booboo?"_

" _I thought it was an injury. And I did say it was a half an hour."_

" _Well, if you insist."_

" _Be careful, or you'll lose your heartless reputation, Batman."_

_Right, he mentally chided himself, he had to watch that. He couldn't remember being this lighthearted in costume ever. Fierra had ways of making even the dullest piece of cardboard charismatic._

_Soon they were sitting by the window of the café, Bruce wearing a tuxedo._

" _Do you always wear a tux when you're off work?" Fierra asked._

_Bruce shrugged "Maybe. Or maybe I had a feeling you might be available."_

_Fiera was silent for a moment, sipping her hot cocoa. "You know," she finally said, "we could never be more than friends."_

_There was a small pause and Bruce said, "Because of your religion, right?"_

" _Not necessarily," Fierra said, frowning, "but I'll be taking my eternal mate to the temple to be sealed for all time. And I can't do that unless…"_

" _Unless I'm temple worthy, and I am, Fiera. I've been baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints."_

_She choked on her hot chocolate a little. "Have you now? Since when?"_

" _Yes. Some months ago, actually." Bruce admitted._

" _Why didn't you tell me?"_

" _You didn't exactly leave a forwarding address when you left ten years ago."_

" _But what about all that 'religion is stupid' nonsense?"_

" _I was wrong. Is that really so hard to believe?"_

" _No, it's actually quite believable if you ask me." She said matter-of-factly._

_Bruce winced, "Ouch, right in the pride."_

" _What changed?"_

_He grew distant. "Let's just say family has always been important."_

* * *

Doctor Strange took a moment to think over that last conversation. He could recall hearing something about Mormons and their temples. They were sacred places where only members of their religion could go. They believed marriages that happened within those walls lasted for eternity, linking families together beyond the veil. He could respect Fierra's refusal to give up such a lasting and sacred union.

He was puzzled as to why she would spring Lex from prison. He was a well known villain, a dangerous man. Surely the prison could have handled his illness?

It was a mystery, one hopefully the vision would reveal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lovely artwork is created by my lovely sister, Lady_Lala.


	9. Iron Bat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been following the story before 12/19/2020 please go back and read the Chronicler's Note in chapter 3. I made some major edits that are important.

_Bruce walked in the front door of the Stark residence and nodded. "Very fancy."_

_Stark shrugged. "I know. Much more high-tech than yours, don't you think?"_

_Bruce gave a small smile. "If you say so."_

" _Pepper is out of town on business, so it's just us men."_

" _And girl!" Morgan chirped as she came barreling around the corner. "Damian says you speak geek too, so no leaving me out of the science talks, kay?"_

_Bruce chuckled. They did indeed "speak geek" for a while, discussing the latest in arc reactor and nanotechnology. But eventually that got boring and they fell into a comfortable silence._

" _How did the Avenger's react to your return?"_

" _Pardon me?" Tony asked._

_Bruce looked at him coolly. "How did your teammates take the news you weren't dead anymore?"_

_Tony looked about the room nonchalantly. "They were pretty quiet."_

" _You didn't tell them, did you."_

" _You know, it really never came up."_

_Morgan rolled her eyes. "3000, of course it didn't!"_

_Bruce sighed. "Tony, I respect your decision to stay out of the public eye. But these are your teammates, people who knew you personally. Your death hurt them; they didn't lose an American Icon, they lost a member of their family."_

" _I'm glad you think I'm an American Icon."_

" _Don't change the subject. They need you; the world needs you."_

" _Eh, they've done fine without Iron Man. Besides, my boy Spidey's doing just fine."_

" _Right, they're all fine. Thor hasn't lost his entire family along with a close friend. Clint's family never lost their favorite Aunt and the closest thing Clint had to a sister. Banner's not missing his favorite science buddy or the woman who saw him as more than a monster. Wanda won't miss Vision, a man the world saw only as a machine. Rhodey isn't mourning his best friend. They're all fine, and I'm sure that knowing the man who died for them is back among the living won't give them one less life to weep over."_

_It was Morgan who came to her father's rescue. "Hey, should I have F.R.I.D.A.Y add ice cream to the shopping list?"_

_Grateful for the distraction Tony looked up to find Morgan peering upside-down at him from the counter, the fridge still wide open._

" _Nah, don't bother, I've got some stashed… you know what," he said suddenly getting up, "let's just go get some right now!" Tony decided with a little more enthusiasm than necessary and Bruce let their previous conversation drop._

_Morgan insisted on wearing a disguise just like her dad's when they went out together. Bruce smiled as he noted the matching hoodies, shades, and ratty sneakers._

_As they browsed the ice cream aisle, Morgan said. "Hey, 3000, we should get some for Pepsi?"_

" _Pepsi?" Bruce asked._

" _Mom."_

" _Ah"_

_Tony reached for a carton of strawberry ice cream only to have Bruce stop him._

" _Allergic to strawberries, remember?"_

" _Right. Wait, how did you know that?"_

" _I have my sources. Might I recommend sending some white lilies to her hotel? I saw a florist a block from here."_

_They bought their ice cream and stopped by the florist's. Bruce had to swallow back his laughter when the florist asked Tony who the flowers were from._

" _Uhhh…nderhill. Mr. Underhill."_

_Morgan fought valiantly to contain her giggles until they were outside._

* * *

_Morgan was in the backseat, happily munching on ice cream straight from the carton. Tony was in the driver's seat of course with Bruce on the passenger side. Certain Morgan was sufficiently distracted by her treasure, Bruce spoke._

" _Bucky wants to apologize."_

_Tony barely managed to remain impassive. "Oh?"_

" _My butler, the man who raised me, Alfred, they were friends in the war. Bucky was friends with my dad too. He comes over a lot to talk with Alfred."_

" _What does he say? That he's sorry for?"_

" _A lot of things. Killing your parents for starters. He feels horrible about that. Did you know he offered to let Pepper press charges after Captain America left? That he was willing to be executed for his crimes under Hydra's control but knew Steve would never let that happen?"_

" _Pepper didn't mention that."_

" _Probably because it never came up."_

" _Yeah" Morgan piped up "He told Mommy and me he was sorry. That he was sorry he killed my grandparents and hurt you. He was crying and everything. He comes by and makes sure we're ok."_

_Bruce nodded. "It eats at him that he never got to tell you those things in person, Tony."_

_Tony didn't respond._

* * *

_Tony lay in bed, his beautiful wife by his side, pondering. He'd asked her about Bucky. Pepper had said she was worried about the man, that helping them seemed to be the only thing that kept him going some days. She had honestly forgotten to mention it, especially since he hadn't done more than call since Tony came back._

" _I know you don't like him, Tony, and I'm not saying you have too. But please don't hate him. He has nightmares about what he did to your parents; it wasn't his fault. Let him make up for it as best he can."_

_Tony could do that._

_Funny how being dead gave you a different perspective, calmed you down. Now that he looked at Bucky without the anger and drama tingeing his thoughts, he could see a bit of the man Steve had known. Through Morgan's eyes, he saw a funny guy with strong morals who was broken. Maybe even someone he could find a friend in._

_But not if he was dead._

_Which brought him back to tonight's musings._

" _Pep?"_

" _Hmm?"_

" _Are you, I dunno, happy?"_

_Pepper rolled over to look at her husband. "What do you mean?"_

" _That I'm, you know, not Iron Man anymore? I know it was always a sore point in our relationship…"_

_Pepper said, "I thought I would be, if you had asked me five years ago. I thought I was happy with our life after the blip when you stopped playing hero. But I wasn't. There was always this niggling feeling I couldn't quite place. When you put back on the armor to go bring back half the universe, I finally knew what it was._

" _Sure, I wish it had never happened. You becoming Iron Man and all the hurt that came with it. But it did, and you know what, you are a better man for it. I would have never married the man you were before."_

" _Ouch!"_

" _Oh be quiet and let me finish." Pepper rolled her eyes and kept going. "Being a hero is a part of you now. It's not just something you can stop doing because you feel you've done enough; you keep going until you physically can't. Once you start on that path there is no going back. And I could feel that it wasn't quite right, you not doing hero work."_

" _So, no?" Tony asked._

" _No."_

" _Do you want me to start again? Being Iron Man, I mean."_

" _I think that's up to you. I will support you either way."_

_Tony looked up at the ceiling again. There was silence for a time and Pepper had nearly fallen asleep when Tony spoke again._

" _Should we tell the Avengers?"_

" _That you aren't dead?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _It's your call, but I think it's only right."_

_The rest of the night passed in silence._

* * *

Well, Doctor Strange thought, if Tony doesn't tell them, I will! It wouldn't take away all the pain, the mourning, the tear filled nights, but it would make it better.

The vision ended and Strange groaned. He still didn't know how he was going to protect Morgan. But he recognized this kind of ending though; the vision was far from over but he needed sleep.

Stephen staggered to his room, the Cloak of Levitation wrapping itself around him soothingly. He collapsed onto his bed and let sleep take him.


	10. Confession

Strange jerked awake in a cold sweat. His dreams had been disturbing. Arkham Asylum had been consumed by flames, the sounds of explosions and screams coming from inside. He'd remembered reading about it in the news a few months back.

Apparently, the Asylum was ripe with carefully concealed corruption. It was no wonder no one ever really got cured in there. Someone had planted a bomb inside; the patients who weren't killed in the fire escaped. None of the occupants had been recaptured, but none had made a public appearance either. It was an eerie lull in Gotham crime.

The article had not done justice to the horror.

In his dream, he had seen Batman rush into the flames time and time again to point those who wished him harm to safety. How he had not left until all the remains had been identified and paid for them all to be buried, any family they had flown in.

He shook his head and began his meditation. The vision began once more.

* * *

_Damian stood on the doorstep of the Stark Mansion with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder._

_It had been several months since Tony had bought lilies for Pepper, but since then Mr. Underhill had run many more errands. He and Bruce Wayne were often seen together and their friendship had grown quickly. Tony had been to Wayne Manor many times now and met much of the extended family. Grayson, Babs, Tim, Alfred, even Gordon were now privy to a secret not even the Avengers knew._

_But that was going to change._

_Damian had insisted on coming for moral support. Tony would never admit it, but he was grateful for the little spitfire. Plus, he was interested to see what havoc Stalker would reap on the Helicarrier._

_Fury had received a phone call last night that left him sorely tempted to yell at the top of his lungs, in joy or anger it was hard to tell._

_Instead, he had settled for his most steely tone. "Stark, I have half a mind to lock you up right now."_

" _Yeah, I should have called you earlier."_

_Earlier? "Just how long have you been alive?"_

" _Eh, a while?"_

_Fury could almost hear the shrug._

" _Just get what's left of the team together. But send Bucky over first; I have something I need to tell him."_

* * *

_Bucky sat alone in "his" room at the new Avengers Tower. It wasn't really his room; it had been Vision's and Wanda had given it to him. Neither of the men had bothered to decorate it._

_Fury had called, saying the team was needed at the Helicarrier. But Bucky was supposed to wait for someone here. He could do that._

_Bucky sharpened his knife, head hung low and shoulders sagging. Even so, he was certain no one had knocked. The first indication someone else was present was when the door to his room opened._

_Bucky looked up and dropped his knife._

" _Bucky, I owe you an apology."_

_Tony Stark sat down on the bed next to him. "I held you responsible for something that was outside your control and made you feel worse. You already suffered enough; I had no right to rub it in your face. I made your life hell and you continued to look out for my family. So thanks."_

_Bucky just continued to stare. This was by far the weirdest hallucination he had ever had._

_Tony blinked. "Wow, that was easier than I expected." He turned to look at the soldier._

" _Did Pepper put you up to this?"_

" _Nah, it was one of my millionaire friends."_

" _Which one?"_

" _Guy by the name of Bruce Wayne…"_

" _Bruce Wayne?" Bucky laughed. "Wow, this really is the weirdest hallucination I've ever had!"_

_The hallucination shoved him off the bed._

_Bucky blinked up at him from the floor. Then he lunged up and grabbed Tony by the shoulders, shaking him roughly._

_Tony blinked. "Are, are you crying?"_

" _I killed you. If I hadn't killed your parents, you and Steve would still be friends. If you were friends, Thanos would have never gotten the Infinity Stones…."_

" _Whoa, whoa, how does that have anything to do with Thanos? Cos is us fighting equals half the universe dying, it would have happened a lot sooner. Now, I've got to tell the others."_

" _I'm gonna kill Rhodey for not spilling!"_

_There was an uncomfortable silence._

" _He doesn't know, does he?"_

" _..."_

" _YOU ARE TELLING THAT MAN IN PRIVATE! YOU DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BEST FRIEND THINKING YOU'RE DEAD LIKE THAT!"_

" _I suppose you would know…"_

" _I'm calling him now and you are going to apologize to him as soon as he gets here. Got it?"_

" _Stalker said you would say that."_

" _Who?"_

* * *

_James Rhodes looked at his phone. Fury had summoned as many of the remaining Avengers and Associates who were available to the Helicarrier. That rounded out to a grand total of six. Of the founding members, only Hawkeye and Hulk were planetside._

_Ronin was dead and Hawkeye was back. Rhodey remembered meeting up with Clint and finding him back in his old purples._

" _Tasha never really liked what I was doing as Ronin. It was too violent, with too little value for life. She never said it directly, but I could tell she missed the old me. While I can never go back to the man I was before, I can definitely throw that sorry excuse of a vigilante in the trash. It's my tribute to her." Clint had explained._

_The man was still in mourning, but it was good to see him smiling, hear him laughing and cracking jokes again. Widow wouldn't have wanted him to mope; she died so he could have his family back and live again._

_Tony wouldn't want Rhodey to give up the fight. But he didn't feel like being War Machine anymore. Thus why he'd sent Fury to voicemail._

_He was retired. He was paralyzed from the waist down. There was no need for him to get back in that suit full of painful memories and answer the call._

_His phone buzzed._

_The caller ID was Bucky Barnes._

_Rhodes picked it up._

" _Hello?"_

" _Hey, forget Fury's message and get your butt to HQ."_

" _Bucky, I…"_

" _Trust me, you don't want to miss this."_

" _Bucky…"_

" _Pretty please?"_

" _Fine."_

* * *

_Rhodey blinked. Maybe he should go see a shrink, because hallucinating wasn't healthy._

_How did he know he was hallucinating? It was the only logical explanation for why Tony was standing outside the door begging to be let into Avengers' Headquarters._

" _Come on, Stalker, let me in. Bucky, be an adult. Don't let the teenage boy boss you around. What do you mean you firewalled and barricaded the door?"_

_Tony paused and looked behind him. "Oh, hey Rhodey." and went back to talking on the phone. "I swear if I have to melt down the door and hack the security system, I will take you straight home. You hear me, I said do you hear me? Hello?…" he pulled the phone away from his ear, a look of fury and disgust on his face. "He hung up, the little…"_

" _Tony?" Rhodey asked._

_Tony turned to look at him. "Oh, right. I'm not dead. Surprise." There was an awkward pause. "And you're not dead, too. That's good. How has not being dead been for you?"_

" _It's been fine, thank you." was the steely reply._

" _Your welcome. I'd invite you inside, but I myself am not allowed in until I apologize to you."_

" _That's quite the situation your in, Tony. So what are you going to do about it?"_

_Tony kinda glanced around and folded his arms moodily. "Apologize to you, I guess."_

" _Good choice. I can't wait to hear it."_

" _I'm sorry for being a selfish idiot and not informing you immediately of my not dead status." Tony turned back to the door. "Now can I come in?"_

" _That it?"_

" _I already met my quota of decent apologies with Bucky earlier today. If you want one, come back next year."_

" _Well, Banner, Barton, Wilson, and Maximoff are expecting one as soon as you show up." said a new voice._

" _Honey Bear, this is Stalker. Stalker, this is Honey Bear."_

" _Rhodey, meet Damian Wayne." Bucky clarified from the doorway._

" _That's what I said."_

_Rhodey turned to Stark. "Stalker? Why did you give a kid…." Damian grinned. It sent shivers down Rhodey's back. "You know what, never mind."_

* * *

_When Wanda asked what kind of mission it was, Fury answered "Diplomatic"._

_When Clint asked where the other representatives were, he said "He'll get here on his own in the next 24 hours or I'll have Danvers drag him here."_

_Banner asked what the stakes were. Fury didn't answer._

_Still, it was odd that they had the rec room all to themselves._

_And then Tony walked in._

" _You all seeing this, or is it just me?" Hawkeye asked._

" _If by it, you're referring our supposedly dead comrade, then yes." Falcon answered._

_There was crying and hugging and laughing, and Tony even managed to make a sarcasm-free heartfelt apology. Sam glared at Bucky who just gave him a shrug and everyone was happy._

_Little did they know that danger stalked the halls of the Helicarrier._

_Damian Wayne was ready to breed chaos._

* * *

_The first bullet bullseyed Fury's eye patch._

_The foam nerf dart pinged off it harmlessly enough. The assailant had come from behind the ceiling tiles, but pulled back before he could be seen. Fury assumed it was Clint._

_Until fifteen minutes later when the archer was hit by a barrage of wickedly fired projectiles._

_Barton was amused._

_Fury was not._

_Especially when he learned Stark had brought an unauthorized child aboard who had gone on to recruit both Hawkeye and Barnes into his impromptu Nerf War. No agent was safe; doing paperwork was nigh impossible._

_It did not help that Fury had yet to catch sight of said child._

_Not even when he was caught in the crosshairs of a food fight. Or when he stumbled upon a game a laser tag on the command deck._

_While Fury was furious, Damina was making friends._

_It was friendship at first barrage with Barton. The kid was an excellent marksman and Clint was greatly enjoying having an accomplice as they waged war together. Bucky had asked to join them on the second day._

_The Hulk found Damian a little odd but trusted Tony's judgment. Falcon was keeping his thoughts to himself, but there were times when he was watching Damian, that he saw a soldier in child's clothing. It worried him. Wanda found Damian endearing. Especially when the agent who said Vision was just a machine showed up outside her door hanging upside down from the ceiling, gift-wrapped, and signed "Stalker"._

_Things in Gotham were relatively quiet. Not many supervillains had done much of anything and the most exciting part of Batman's night was the inevitable low life trying to collect the bounty on Lex's head. He and Foxglove had many pleasant talks and she thought Lex would be waking up any day now._

_All attempts by the Robins to find out who Bruce was meeting with had been thwarted. They suspected he was actually dating someone. Especially when he came home with a small smile and Alfred had a knowing twinkle in his eye. It had been more than three times and they were all starting to panic, though none would ever admit it._

_It was peaceful._

_Like the eye of a hurricane that inevitably passes._


	11. The Mask Falls

_It was a school night._

_Peter let out a yawn. He should be in bed in his own apartment. But Aunt May had been looking forward to this date for months and it wasn't really Happy's fault that he'd forgotten Pepper had a business trip. It wouldn't have even been a problem if Tony wasn't currently on the Helicarrier, so it really wasn't a big deal that Peter was babysitting Morgan tonight._

_He'd been a good babysitter, put his foot down (gently) at 9 o'clock and made her go to bed even as she tried to wheedle one more documentary out of him. She was sound asleep in her room and he was staring at the computer screen, down to the last page of that 25-page paper that was his ticket to passing English. He'd missed far too many classes and his professor had had enough. (Then again, he'd missed 90% of his assignments.)_

_He stared at the microwave clock display. The red lights read 11:59._

_It never read midnight._

_There was a low thoom and every electronic device in the house went dark. That was all the warning Peter got before the screams started._

_He leapt across the house and busted through the door. He only had a moment to register Morgan's cry of warning, dangling by the collar of her pajamas, held in the grasp of an emotionless man in a black and orange mask._

_The man was waiting for him. He'd fired the shot before Peter had even finished breaking through the door. The dart hit him in the face, the paralyzing drugs immediately taking effect. But he didn't succumb to the blackness until he'd gotten a good look at the man._

_The drugged calm was worse than the panic he would have felt as Peter was dragged under._

_You could almost see the man smirking behind his mask. Morgan sunk her teeth into his flesh but he didn't even flinch._

" _My Daddy's gonna find me!" she seethed._

" _I'm counting on it." and with that he walked right out the front door._

_Happy pulled into the driveway not ten minutes later._

* * *

" _A-and that's when I blacked out, sir."_

_Peter had a black, blue, and yellow bruise on his cheek. They were in the Helicarrier's medical bay and Nurse Darby was frowning in concern as she tried to treat him. Peter fought not to flinch. He was shaking so badly that Tony wanted to murder Happy twice over. The other heroes were gathered around; Damian was there too, he and Hawkeye already knew who the kidnapper was._

" _Deathstroke."_

_Clint was deathly serious. "Tony, you need to accept that there's a chance we do everything right and Morgan doesn't make it…"_

" _We'll take back-up." Tony said emphatically._

_Damian watched as they struggled to find where Deathstroke was holding Morgan. It took them the better part of the day, but the boy knew that was only because the villain was making it easy for them. He watched as they put together their plan for getting her back, knowing that they would fail. He did not complain when he was left behind._

_But that did not mean Robin would not be making an appearance._

* * *

" _You are leading them to their deaths."_

_Tony looked up to see the iconic yellow and black cowl. There were several dozen S.H.I.E.L.D agents behind him, along with as many heroes as they could scrounge up, but Tony had insisted on taking point._

" _So, you must be Robin."_

" _Deathstroke has been chasing Robins since the mantle was created. I know one of his traps when I see it."_

" _Then what's his endgame?"_

_Robin shrugged. "I'll be darned if I know. But I'll be your best bet of getting everyone out alive."_

" _Is she even in there then?"_

_Robin nodded. "Oh, she's there alright. With several dozen of his androids as guards."_

_The boy hopped down from the roof and displayed a projection from his wrist. "There are three rooms and one entrance. The first room is full of guards. The second room has booby traps. A third has our hostage situation."_

" _What's in the second room?"_

" _Nothing good. The booby traps are always just there to make it interesting. If you have an illegitimate child, I suggest you tell Pepper now. Deathstroke is brutal in physical and psychological warfare." Robin paused. "I have half a mind to leave Bucky out of this, but since you're the target, hopefully the man's not going to have another Civil War reveal."_

" _It wasn't his fault," Tony growled._

_Robin gave a small smirk. "Nice to see you getting defensive for the right reasons. Now, you going to let me come, or do I have to stalk you?"_

" _Get me my baby girl and I don't care what you do."_

_The first room was just as Robin predicted. Tony's respect for the kid shot up a hundredfold if he'd survived these things before. It was a miracle no one died, and even then, five agents had to be Life Flighted out._

_Tony nearly lost his biscuits when he watched Robin stitch up a seven-inch gash on his own leg by himself._

_There were no booby traps in the second room._

_They checked and double-checked, but there were no traps. Except one._

_The moment Robin reached the center of the room, all the walls lit up. They were giant screens, filled with stuff Tony didn't understand._

Oh, but Doctor Strange understood it. They were medical records, experimental records, and not the good kind. Notes on a sperm donor, gestation chamber, fetus development...everything you would theoretically see to grow a human fetus outside the womb. To create a genetically enhanced clone. In science-speak, this was a completely human child who had simply been designed to have the best combination of genes from two of the fittest human beings in existence: Batman and Talia al Ghul.

And it was clear to Stephen that Robin understood all that.

_Robin seemed to deflate long before the hidden speakers came on._

" _Quite the reality check, isn't it Robin? To find out you were never the product of an act of love. That half of the DNA that makes you was stolen, that you were grown in a tube, by a woman who merely desired to have the most physically perfect human as her offspring? Well, at least you know she didn't add any enhancements; no mutant powers or anything that would exclude you from your post. Small relief, I presume?"_

" _Leave him alone, Deathstroke!" Bucky shouted, running forward to shelter the boy as he fell to his knees._

" _Do I need to put it in layman's terms, Stark? The child is a human clone." Deathstroke purred. "A loveless pet project to prove superhuman enhancements aren't needed to create the perfect killer."_

" _You're lying!" Wanda shouted._

" _He's not," Robin whispered. "I always thought she was just being weird...I never realized…"_

_Agents were beginning to trickle in. Bucky knew what it was like to have your darkest secrets, secrets you didn't even know existed, broadcasted to strangers. He shot every screen and every hidden speaker. No child deserved to have their whole world yanked out from under them, least of all like this._

_Bucky waved them forward, "Move out!" then to Tony, "Let him be. He'll follow when he's ready."_

_Tony nodded, moving to kneel by the kid. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn't. Instead, he just gave a comforting pat and left Robin behind._

_The third room was filled with drones. And behind that army was the real Deathstroke, Morgan in hand._

* * *

The vision ended with a sickening lurch and Doctor Strange leaped to his feet, opening a portal. He knew where they were and he had the sickening feeling that the last image was happening now. He stepped out and watched as Tony fired at Deathstroke, just like the scene that had first started the vision, watched Morgan being lifted as a living shield.

But this time he could see the whole picture.

Watch Robin swing across the room, grabbing Cap's shield, and leaping into the path of the blast. He lifted the shield to deflect it and was mostly successful. But mostly wasn't enough to protect the boy from the portion of the blast that slammed into half of his face and chest.

Robin dropped like a bird that had been felled by a stone.

Stephen wasn't the only one watching. Deathstroke watched coldly as the scene unfolded, dropping Morgan the moment Robin hit the ground. The boy had saved Morgan from any harm, but the villain had lost interest in his hostage. He seemed not to care when Wanda snatched the girl up. He pulled out a small box and opened a Boom Tube.

"Where are you going?" Iron Man shouted.

"My work here is done." was the emotionless response. "You were never the target." With that, Deathstroke was gone.

Stephen was sprinting across the room as the remaining drones toppled to the ground. Tony looked to his daughter for a moment, saw her gaze staring at the expanding pool of blood around the young boy, and ran to the downed child's side. Spider-Man, who shouldn't have even been there, was already trying to use his webs as bandages.

Tony stood frozen. The blast had severed the child's mask and he could not look away as it slipped down the boy's face. He could not speak as familiar blue eyes met his before slipping shut. "Abi" the child moaned weakly. _Daddy,_ Tony's understanding of Arabic supplied. He fell to his knees, frantic to save the life of Damian Wayne.

Bucky was the next to reach them. He turned to the others and shouted. "Someone get a medic! And don't any of you dare get near him!"

Bucky ripped his shirt off, tearing off a wide strip. He knelt to wrap it around the boy's face. "He's lost enough today. Let him keep his identity."

Tony's mind was reeling, unable to stop the pieces from snapping together in his head. Damian was Robin, which made Bruce Wayne Batman, which made… He couldn't stop as the secret identities of almost every hero connected to the Batfamily revealed themselves.

All those conversations about heroes' rights to a private life took on a new meaning. This...the kid had passed out knowing he's given away his family's secret and safety. Just having learned he was a clone. And then Tony shot him!

"Stephen…"

"Tony, I can't help him. He needs a trauma surgeon right now."

"We can't just let anybody know who he is…"

"I know, believe me, I know."

"Take him to Dr. Reyes now!" Wanda shouted. "Xavier already knows who Batman is. I haven't been with the X-Men for long, but I know she's our best option."

Doctor Strange nodded. "Spider-Man, Wanda, Morgan, Tony, and Bucky only. The rest will have to stay here." He used his magic to lift the child safely, opening a portal to Xavier's School for Gifted Children.

"Cecilia!" Wanda shouted as soon as she stepped through. The doctor took one look at the blood dripping from Robin's wounds and started barking orders. Morgan was sobbing and was quickly handed to Professor X.

The moment Strange had laid the boy down on the operating table, he moved to leave. "No, you stay. I know you can't do surgery anymore, but I need some help. Plus, you already know who he is and I'm going to take this 'mask' off."

"Of course, Dr. Reyes."

"I hope you realize he'd have bled to death before anyone could get there if it weren't for you. That, and these webs."

Tony waited outside of the operating theatre (why did this place even need that?) and worried. He nearly jumped out of his suit when it registered someone touching his armor.

"Hey, Scott."

"Hey, Tony. You might want to get out of your armor. I can have someone wash the 'stuff' off it." Like blood.

"Yeah, that would be good. Where's Morgan?"

"Talking to the Professor. She's physically fine and mostly angry at Deathstroke for using her to hurt Damian. And yeah, he told her everything he revealed to Robin today, hoping to make her scared of Damian. I think he underestimated her maturity." Cyclops gave a small chuckle. "She's telling Xavier all the reasons why Robin should have a therapy session with him."

"So, you already knew…?"

"I've known Bruce for a long time." He tapped his visor. "He helped build my first pair of glasses when we were nine. And as Batman he's been bringing mutants here for ages."

"And what about Damian's origins?"

Scott didn't respond.

"Figures. Do you think Bruce knows?"

"He's Batman, Stark. Of course, he knows. But even I know you don't tell a kid something like that when they are already unsure of your love for them."

Tony stepped out of his suit, gladly letting Scott take it away. He stepped into an empty room and pulled out his phone.

He had an important call to make.

* * *

Fierra rang the doorbell.

Alfred opened the door with a smile. "Welcome, Madam, Master Bruce is waiting for you in the dining room."

Fierra gave the butler a hug. "I missed you, Uncle Alfred."

Alfred hugged her back. "As have I." He pulled away. "Now, Bruce is waiting for you. I understand you have business to discuss?"

Fierra nodded. "I expected him to have finished eating by now though."

Alfred made no comment.

Fierra stepped into the dining room to see a beautiful candlelight dinner laid out. Bruce rose from his seat and pulled a chair out for her, flashing her a brilliant smile.

"You kept treating me to dinner, I figured it was high time I did the same."

Fierra rolled her eyes. "Don't think I don't know what this is." She took the offered seat. "You do realize we have business to discuss?"

"I do. Which is why Tim is with the Titans, Damian is with Tony Stark on the Helicarrier, and Grayson is on a date out of town with Babs. We will be undisturbed barring emergencies." Bruce took a sip of water. "But I was hoping we could talk as friends first before getting down to business."

Fierra smiled. "I suppose I could allow that."

Bruce gestured to her. "Ask away."

"Why did you do it? Get baptized, I mean. I always thought you were too smart for your own good in that regard; you never put anything to chance and believing in a God you couldn't see would be pretty chancy from your perspective."

Bruce leaned back in his seat. "Fair point. But honestly? I have never been able to predict everything. There's a part of every sentient creature that has the ability to break their pre-established patterns of thinking, to surprise you. It doesn't happen as often as you think, but it does.

"But I digress. There are moments where my plans say one thing, where every fiber of my being says to bring a criminal in, but something inside me, something stronger, says otherwise. When I follow that stronger part of me, the one that speaks of mercy, everything works out for the best. It happened the first time I let Selina walk free and I've never regretted doing that.

"When the missionaries spoke, that feeling inside grew with an intensity I'd never felt before. What they said made sense and that feeling inside confirmed it."

Fierra nodded. "So, why are you still Batman?"

Bruce sighed. "I realize I need to stop letting the trauma of my past define me. I did consider hanging up the cowl, but I prayed about it. I got the world still needs Batman, but I feel the mantle should die with me. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else."

He looked at her a bit reluctantly. "Would that have anything to do with why you never came back?"

She glared at him. "You do realize you are the real loon, right? Obsessed with your own trauma, being downright crappy to everyone you meet, and an overall jerk. Yes, that might have had something to do with it. You were downright abusive to Grayson at times!"

Bruce winced and Fierra held up a finger.

"Granted, you've mellowed out over the years. I don't see you making the same mistakes with Damian. But I suppose it's partly my fault; I taught you how to fight, filled you with stories of my own adventures in heroeing, and pointed you to others who could teach you more. I had hoped giving you something to work towards would help you overcome your struggles, not obsess over them."

Bruce put a hand on hers. "Fierra, you are a huge part of why I'm not locked up in an asylum. You and Alfred taught me the importance of mercy, of understanding the humanity of my foes. I would have followed a similar path with or without your help."

She smiled coyly at him. "You aren't the little kid I used to read bedtime stories to anymore."

Bruce shrugged. "You're still the daughter of an Atlantean and a member of a class of human mutants with strange powers and weird aging."

"You could just call them sorcerers." Fierra corrected.

"Ah, but are they the mutant sorcerers with shapeshifting abilities or the ones who cast spells and use amulets? Or are we talking about people like Doctor Strange?"

She glared at him before turning her attention to her plate. "So, are you going to ask why I left?"

Bruce didn't look up from his dinner. "I understand. You've never stayed in one place long; you always took time to visit me and provide training when you could. As I grew older and you seemed not to age, I might have developed a crush at one point. But I knew you would only marry a man who could take you to the Temple, and I respected your beliefs. You never tried to push them on me.

"I decided to go try to stop crime in civilian clothes and you had to fix the aftermath. You had your own foes closing in and you knew I would try to help you. You left because I wasn't ready and you were right. I just don't want you to leave like that now."

He looked up at her, vulnerable. "I know I need to change some aspects of my crime-fighting style. I need to temper my tendency for violence and anger and...I need to open up to more people. I have to learn to trust and let myself be happy. I don't really know anyone I could turn to for help; no one understands why I do what I do and how I do it...except you."

Fierra smiled. "How quaint, the great Batman is asking for my help." then she sobered up. "Bruce, I'm touched. I'd love to help as best I can. You're very brave to try to change after so long of doing something that 'works'."

He gave her a cheeky grin. "So, when can we meet for a second date?"

Fierra pulled back with an indignant "oh!" and Bruce laughed.

"In all seriousness, Bruce, what about Selina? Aren't you dating?"

He gave a so-so gesture. "Selina is a great friend. But she's made it very clear she isn't interested in full-time hero work. If she went legal, she might be a consultant. She told me in no uncertain terms that if I wanted to marry her I'd need to hang up the cowl. I'm not doing that."

"Bruce, I haven't even met your kids." Fierra said with concern.

Bruce reached for her hand again. "Whatever happens, just stay in contact. You are part of the family; they'd meet you eventually anyway. Besides, you had something to tell me?"

Fierra's face darkened. "Lex woke up. The man's a martyr; Hydra implanted a biochip in his brain years ago that causes pain whenever his plans fail and can cause an agonizingly slow and painful death if they so choose. He's been a double agent for years, assigned to keep the Justice League out of Hydra's tentacles but secretly creating loopholes in his plans and praying you find them. He does his best to undo any damage caused, from secretly rebuilding homes and putting 'dead' men in witness protection."

Bruce frowned, "How long has he been at it?"

Fierra took a big breath. "His wife was a sorceress like me from another universe. She was a hero and had her own evil Lex. They met right before Lex started down that path and she pulled his head out of his butt. They fell in love and got married. She got pregnant and Hydra captured her. Lex agreed to be their agent in exchange for the life of his wife and unborn child. They infected his wife with an alien virus with no cure, but they have the medicine to keep it from progressing. Apparently, it's supposed to become infectious if the infected dies, but that part failed to work on her. She's the only one in danger.

"The baby was born and whisked away immediately to be raised as a Hydra Agent. Turns out that child was Leah. Lex was understandably ticked. So he agreed to have the biochip implanted so the next child would be spared the same fate.

"That child is now a young woman and she's been raised and kept with the Prisoners. Lex messed up one too many times and they let his wife die. Hydra's of the opinion Lex has lost his usefulness and activated the chip. They've found a way to finally get the Prisoners under their control and they're going to test it in two days by having them kill Lex's daughter.

"Thankfully, Lex knows how we can free everybody. But it's going to take a huge group effort. So, when I start poking the League, just go along and chase. Capiche?"

Burce just blinked. "Lex is Leah's father and he's been an ally all this time?"

Firera took a sip of water and gave a small nod, "Yep."

"He has another daughter and she's about to die?"

Another nod.

"And Hydra is about to turn the Prisoners into a brainwashed army?"

"Pretty much." Fierra stood. "This has been nice, but I promised Xavier I would give him a heads up. I'm extending the X-Men an official invitation to our little rescue."

"Tell Scott hello for me."

"Sure thing, Brucie."

Bruce wrinkled his nose. "Don't call me that."

"Oh you know I'm kidding."

"Maybe, but Selina already has enough nicknames for me. I don't need you to start too."

She smiled. "Oh alright. Good night, Bruce."

Bruce was just watching Grayson pull into the driveway when his phone buzzed.

"Hey, Tony, how are you?"

" _Bruce, Robin needs you."_

All cheerfulness left Bruce's voice. "I'll be there."

* * *

Tony sat beside Damian. The kid was hooked up to so many monitors it made Tony sick. The boy was so still and pale, health so precarious that at any moment he could die. More chilling were Professor X's words earlier that day; " _he's lost the will to live."_

A gloved hand reached over to grasp the child's pale hand.

"It's not your fault, Tony."

"How can it not be my fault? I'm the dang idiot who shot him."

Batman did not look away from his son as he knelt by the bed. "Deathstroke has always been one of our deadliest adversaries. Robin knew that. Even if he knew he was the target, he would still have gone. Deathstroke would have killed Morgan and blamed the death on Robin's cowardice, delivering the news some other way. This was a lose-lose situation."

"When were you going to tell him?"

Batman paused as if tasting the words he was about to speak. There was a small bit of hesitance, even vulnerability, in his next words. "Damian has always struggled with the concept of love. Thalia claimed to love him, but if she did, her way of showing it was cruel. She wanted a weapon. I've had to train that kind of thinking out of him. But despite everything, he still doubts that I love him. He knows he can be...aggravating. I was waiting until he knew I loved him without a shadow of a doubt.

"He originally thought I only took him in out of a sense of duty, just to prevent him from being used to raze the world. He still thinks that sometimes. What Deathstroke revealed about his origins will only serve to solidify that line of thinking. He knows what he is capable of, and Damian no longer wants that to happen. He would do anything to ensure he doesn't become what his mother wants him to be. And now he doubts if he can resist it."

Tony nodded. "Bucky worries about waking up one day to find that despite all our efforts, Hydra still has a way to control him."

"I can confirm there isn't a remote possibility of that anymore. I've checked."

Which meant he must have found a way to counteract that conditioning Shuri hadn't been able to undo. What they did to Bucky shouldn't have been able to cause such damage without something else helping it, something Shuri didn't know how to detect but Batman did….Tony pushed those thoughts aside. "As I'm sure you've checked Damian."

"I have. Besides the circumstances of his birth, he's as normal as any other human being predisposed to fitness. But he's seen too many clones turn out to be something more, being controlled." Batman hung his head. "It's a chance he won't take. Not in his current mental state."

Stark stood up and stretched. "Well, I'll go get another chair for you…"

"I'm not staying."

"What the fuji, Bruce!" Tony yelled, before realizing his mistake and being grateful for the soundproof walls. "He's your son and he's dying; vigilante work can wait…"

Batman looked up at Tony and he could see the tears slipping out from under the cowl. "I can't. There are so many lives at stake, so many poor souls who are about to go through what the Winter Soldier did. I can't let that happen, I have to stop that. Something much bigger than my own happiness is at stake, Tony. And that's why I need you to stay with him for a little while. I'll be back as soon as it's over…"

"I understand," Tony said, holding up a hand. "Vision, well, he was kind of my son. And we had to let him die just for a shot at stopping Thanos. This is like that, isn't it? Something that big."

Batman nodded.

"I won't leave him…"

"Tony, you will. I'll need you for what's coming." The Bat stood, cape swirling around him. "But until then, stay with my son. Thank you." And with that, he was gone.

Dr. Reyes was the next to come in, Professor X behind her with Morgan seated on his lap, Peter pushing the wheelchair.

Cecilia went about checking machines as Morgan slipped off Xavier's lap to hold Damian's hand and talk to him. Peter looked up at Tony, devastated.

"I saw him, Mr. Stark. He's younger than I was when I started. He's gotta feel awful that all these people know."

Peter was quiet for a moment as he imagined the catastrophe it would be if so many people knew his identity. Putting so many people close to him in danger.

"Something else happened, didn't it Mr. Stark?" He said finally. "He found something horrible, didn't he. Something so terrible it eats at him from the inside out. I know what that looks like, I've seen it happen."

Xavier put a hand on Peter's. "Yes, something did happen, but it's not something Tony is allowed to disclose at this time. For now, young man, I recommend getting some rest."

The Professor made eye contact with Tony. _It's very big and it will be happening soon. Batman cannot afford to be here; there is much to prepare and little time to do so._

Tony gave a slight nod before turning to Dr. Reyes. "Any change?"

"None. What happens next is up to him."


	12. Operation: Crossover

48 hours. That was how long she had left to live. Before her fellow Prisoners would become slaves. Before one of those who had raised her would be selected to kill her.

They all slept in hibernation. After decades of failed attempts to crack them, they would now become the killers and spies that Hydra wanted. It was going to be a huge event, broadcasted live, as one of them would pass the ultimate test by executing her.

She paced her sterile cell as the guards outside debated who would be the most entertaining to watch slay her. She had her own list of possible executioners, categorized by those she thought could cope the best with it if they were ever freed from Hydra's control. After all, Winter had been.

She wondered where he was now. He was probably looking for them, just like the sister that didn't even know she existed had been looking. Leah had always been trying to free them along with Natasha. But now they were both dead. So had that other man, but he'd been caught. He was waiting with the other new prisoners, the ones Hydra wasn't sure how to control yet. She heard there had been some unexpected results when they had injected them with the drug to enhance the electroconvulsive therapy (it didn't work without it) and that they were proving immune to Hydra's conditioning much like her friends had been. But now the new version of the drug was going to change all that. The man who came looking...well, they just wanted to study him.

She shuddered.

Hydra had studied her and her mother since she was born. Her mother since Leah was born. But at least she could fight back. They needed her alive to "control" her father.

Her father. Someone had broken him out of prison, she'd heard that much from the guards as they talked amongst themselves. But by now he would surely be dead. There was no one who could save him from the chip inside his head.

Her birth family was dead. And her adopted family was going to be the death of her.

* * *

Superman had a newfound appreciation for Batman's detective work.

Lex had completely vanished. Ever since the mysterious female villain had broken him out of jail, there hadn't been a peep out of him. But more important than Lex was the mysterious figure who had sprung him. She had bested Clark in mere minutes, which made her a major threat.

Superman could find no details on her.

Even his notes on her existence mysteriously disappeared the next day. There were no pictures or newspaper articles, it was as if she only existed by word of mouth. He would have thought he was imagining things if Batman hadn't confirmed her existence.

He briefly reviewed what little he knew.

Fact: her name was Foxglove.

Fact: she was extremely dangerous.

Fact: under no circumstances was she to be approached alone.

Superman had put together a team that would be on call to help him follow any confirmed sightings. Deadman, a ghost who could possess anyone. Martian Manhunter, the shapeshifting, phasing, telepathic alien and core League member. The Flash, who needs no introduction, and his nephew Kid Flash. Supergirl, much to Clark' chagrin. Shazam too was on the team as well as anyone else who might be available when the call went out.

Those were all Batman's suggestions, but Clark had added a few more names to the list. Dianna and Shayera were waiting as well as John Stewart if he happened to be on Earth. It was a large team, he would admit, but it was better safe than sorry.

Clark perked up as his super hearing picked up a conversation from two blocks away.

"So, the boss is going to be at the intersection of Main and First Avenue in Gotham tonight at 6?" an older man with a weak voice asked.

"Yep, Foxglove says it's going to be big. Wants us to stay out of her way." A younger, brasher voice responded.

"Think it has anything to do with Lex Luthor?"

"Oh, definitely."

Superman immediately commed the Shayera. "Hawkgirl, get the team ready. I've got a lead."

Two blocks away, Hevy and 99 looked at each other.

"Think he heard us?" 99 asked.

"He better have." Hevy groused. "We used all the keywords and my voice is sore from shouting."

99 chuckled. "You know you're in Gotham when old ladies don't even give you dirty looks for shouting like lunatics."

* * *

Two black clad women dropped silently from a portal in the sky onto the roof of the Helicarrier. They disabled most of the cameras on the flying ship with a video loop and disabled the alarms for the hull breach. In under five minutes they were inside, no evidence of their entrance left behind. They shook hands and set off.

Hawkeye was laying on his bunk thinking about what had happened yesterday.

He'd seen the kid's face. When Robin's mask fell, he'd been looking. He'd been up high, and he'd already triple checked that no other agents had seen it, but still. He knew who Robin was. And as a man who kept his own family's existence a secret for their safety, he understood why that was such a big deal. There were now, counting just the ones the kid knew about, six decent sized chinks in the armor.

Oh yes, that was lovely knowledge to pass out with.

(Though it did explain why Damian Wayne was so good at sneaking around.)

Clint wondered when Tony would give him an update on the kid's health. He was grateful that Fury had not asked about Robin. He was just wondering about whether or not he should turn in his report now or later when he was gently abducted.

* * *

Most of the Wayne family was gathered around the table for dinner. Grayson was discussing how his work at the GPD was going. Tim was telling Alfred he couldn't put his computer away because he still had reports to read from Wayne Enterprises. Bruce was trying desperately to pay attention to what Grayson was saying. He resisted the urge to check his fifteen minute timer.

But he couldn't stop himself from staring at Damian's empty chair.

"I wonder why Damian hasn't called yet?" Grayson asked before shrugging it off.

Ten minutes later they were done eating and they made their way to the Batcave. Bruce changed quickly, silently fretting as his boys seemed to take forever. Tim glanced at Damian's empty Robin costume.

"Hey, isn't Robin supposed to be back by now?"

* * *

" _Cutting it a little close are you?"_

Foxglove smiled at the sound of Lex Luthor's voice over her commlink.

"My, look who's feeling lucid."

" _I'd normally appreciate your witt, but my daughter is due to be executed in little more than a day. Not to mention Hydra is about to get a small highly trained army."_

"Trust me, Lex, barring major complications, this part should go off without a hitch."

" _Define 'major complications'."_

Foxglove smiled. "Nothing on this end. Superman and company are en route. They should be arriving right on schedule."

* * *

The first hint Fury got that something was wrong was when the Helicarrier dropped like a stone for two thousand feet. He cursed colorfully.

"Someone go check the engine room!"

Apparently there was a woman in black messing with the ship who wasn't showing up on their sensors. Priority one was to make sure the ship wasn't going to drop out of the sky. Priority two was to catch her. That was a great deal harder.

She was very successful at avoiding the agents on base. Just to make things even more fun, the woman's accomplice showed up with a gagged Hawkeye. Falcon was doing his best to try and handle it, but he was clearly outclassed.

"I don't want to hurt you, just put him down." Falcon said.

"Bring me the Avengers." came the distorted response.

"Why?"

"You are hardly in the position to ask questions."

"Neither are you." Hulk growled from behind her. He grunted as she ducked past him and set off at a jog.

"Slippery, huh?" Falcon quipped. "Glad to know I'm not getting rusty. Though, that would be more of Rhodey's problem."

* * *

"Batman, why haven't we left yet?" Red Robin asked in confusion. "Superman is in pursuit of the villain who sprung Lex. Shouldn't we be helping?"

Nightwing was frowning at the logs. "Why did you send a family emergency alert to Red Hood? And why is it tied to your location?"

Batman didn't meet their questioning gazes.

"Bruce…" Grayson reached out tentatively, "is everything ok? Did something happen? Is it...is it Damian?"

The Dark Knight was spared from answering by a flash of blue light.

* * *

The team was a handful of feet away from Foxglove. Still she stood tall, defiant. She planted her feet and brilliant red wings flared out from between her shoulder blades that clearly hadn't been there before. She had a huge grin on her face and it unsettled Superman.

Flash was millimeters from touching her when there was a brilliant flash of blue.

* * *

The first intruder was on the center deck, keeping the agents sent to wrangle her busy. The second had the Avenger's at a stalemate.

Oddly, the first was more concerning. She seemed to be having _fun._

Fury could tell she was toying with them. No one was getting hurt badly and it reminded him of a bully who had taken a kid's ice cream cone and was simply pushing the kid away when they tried to get it back.

Then she looked directly at the camera and made a come hither motion. At the exact same time as the other intruder.

Fury cocked his pistol and moved to engage, Rhodey moving to suit up beside him.

Banner and Wilson were following Hawkeye's abductor cautiously.

Fury's voice came over their commlinks " _Don't do anything until I get there. She's headed to meet up with her buddy on the main deck. I'll arrive the same time you do."_

Falcon could see Fury running towards them from behind the abductor. All that stood between him and them was the second invader and a sea of agents. The moment Fury and War Machine stepped out of the hallway, there was a flash of blue light, darkness, and the feeling of falling.


	13. Hydra Heist

When the others arrived and their feet hit the ground, it was dark. There were a plethora of worried voices and Tony felt Peter grab his hand. After a few moments, the room brightened to a dim glow.

And Tony found himself facing Batman.

"Bats."

"Stark."

Tony put out his hand and Batman shook it. DC and Marvel watched each other warily from their respective sides, but both were surprised by the civility. Fury sighed heavily and dragged his hand down his face. Superman glanced warily at War Machine.

Foxglove walked into the light between the two sides, the two women in black flanking her.

"Before you all jump to kill us, I think our friends from Marvel need to see something." Foxglove said as the whole room surged forward.

The two women beside her pulled off their masks.

"Natasha!" was the collective exclamation.

"Gamora!" Spider-Man said a beat behind everyone else.

Hawkeye barreled into Black Widow.

"Don't do that again."

She smiled genuinely and hugged him back. "Dieing or abducting you? Both were necessary. Fastest way to gather heroes is to cause a problem."

"Nat" Banner choked.

"It's ok. You can hug me too."

Most of the Marvel side rushed her and Gamora. Fury refused to participate, but kept busy by glaring DC into submission beside Batman.

"Ok, enough catching up." Fury called. "I know you Foxglove, and you wouldn't just lead us on a wild goose chase for the fun of it."

"Fair enough, Nicholas." Fury groused at that. "I brought your groups together for an important mission." Foxglove turned to the DC heroes. "Batman selected most of you for your abilities which will be needed for this assignment."

"That true, Bats?" Flash asked.

"Yes," Batman nodded "she's a friend."

Black Widow stepped forward. "Zemo may have killed all of Hydra's supersoldiers, but there will be more soon. Hydra has held hundreds of prisoners from offworld for decades, trying to find a way to turn them into their slaves. That's going to become a reality in 24 hours if we don't stop them. Our informant's daughter has been held captive since birth as a means to control him, but he's been leaving loopholes in his plans for heroes to exploit."

She paused to pull up a holographic display. "This is the base where they are being held. The prisoners will be in cryo pods and each pod has a teleportation device. The alarm will trigger it and they'll be sent to another base. We don't have a second chance. That alarm cannot be triggered and we need to disable the device on each pod before we go in guns blazing."

She looked up into empty air. "Deadman, I know you can't respond, but we're counting on you. If things go wrong, possess whoever you need to keep that alarm from going off."

Black Widow turned to look at them. "Our second and equally important objective is to rescue the young daughter of our informant. She is not in stassis and she's of the same class of mutant as Foxglove. She may be hostile, but she is innocent."

"Foxglove" Fury tutted "I'd think for a mission like this you'd want Shadowcat too. Intangibility and or superspeed would be pretty useful."

Foxglove grinned. "Danger, turn on the lights."

"That's Danger Room to you!" a chipper cheeky feminine voice responded as the lights flicked on to reveal the X-Men standing outside the glass.

Foxglove looked directly at Batman while she addressed Fury. "Fury, J'onn, I'll leave you to make introductions."

Spider-Man started pulling Nightwing and Red Robin by the hand. He yanked them into a room and whipped off his mask.

"Whoah, kid!..." Nightwing began.

"No, no, it's only fair."

"Peter?"

Both of the bat boys stiffened in confusion. "'Only fair'? What do you mean, Parker?" Nightwing asked.

"What's going on?" Red inquired.

Tony sighed, lowering his helmet. "Follow me."

They followed hesitantly, Batman and Peter Parker behind them, and stepped further into the room. Only to be confronted by the sight of Damian laying on the bed before them, mask off.

They both rushed forward to kneel beside him. "What happened?" Nightwing cried.

"These are from an ion laser blast." Red Robin said. "But those are signature to Stark Industries...you shot him, didn't you?"

It was Batman who answered. "Deathstroke kidnapped Morgan in order to lure in Damian so he could reveal he was a clone of my and his mother's DNA. Damian took a shot that Deathstroke had twisted for Morgan to absorb."

"So you're saying he's just a test tube baby, right Dad?" Nightwind said.

Batman nodded. "But you know your brother. But this is your brother's secret to share, understand?"

The family gathered around Damian and Tony started to pull Peter away.

"Let's give them some privacy."

Nightwing stood and put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Accidents happen, we all make mistakes."

Tony nodded. "Thanks."

They moved to leave but Nightiwng grabbed Peter's hand. "Don't blame yourself, Spidey. I don't know what you'd possibly blame yourself for, but I know you'd find something."

He gave the hand a small squeeze before moving to stand vigil over another fallen Robin.

* * *

Superman watches as Black Widow is mobbed by friends, gently refusing to explain how she's back from the dead but confirming she was exactly that, dead. He wouldn't know she was tense if he couldn't hear and see all the signs inside her body.

Whatever happens in this mission they are about to go on, it _matters_ to her. She's being calm because she has to. And then he remembers there's a girl's life at stake. A girl who has never known freedom. And suddenly all he can think about is Superboy, not his son, but the clone he failed to be there for. Who wouldn't know freedom either if it weren't for the sidekicks of his colleagues.

And then Foxglove is standing, calling everyone to attention.

"We're heading out in twenty minutes, but before we do, you're all getting buddies." There were several groans, mostly from the DC side. "Yeah, yeah, I get it you think you're tough. But I want to make sure Hydra doesn't get any new prisoners to replace the ones they lose. So listen up!

"You agents already have buddies and you can keep them. I trust the X-Men to find a buddy unless I assign them one. The rest of you, find your partner when I call your name.

"Batman and Iron Man. Shazam and Nightcrawler, Kurt teleport him out if anything goes wrong and neither of you do anything stupid. Kitty, you're with Kid Flash. Don't let him do anything stupid. Wolverine, you're with the Big Blue Boy Scout. You're the wrecking squad. Hulk, keep an eye on Supergirl. Spidey, you're with Martian Manhunter, the green skinned dude before you can ask. Lantern, you cover Bucky. If he gets caught I'll let the Wakandans deal with you. Hawkgirl and Falcon, you're a team. Wonder Woman you cover Scarlet Witch. No, Hawkeye, you can't go with Nat. You get Nightwing. Red Robin, you have War Machine. Fury, you get Red Hood. Doctor Strange, you already know what you need to do.

"If your partner has phasing or super speed abilities, just stand by in case they need back up until the devices are disabled. If everything goes according to plan, that will happen before anyone knows we're there. But we're superheroes, when does anything go according to plan?"

Batman was about to grumble something but Foxglove beat him to it. "Plan A, Batman, we're not all as brilliant as you." The DC side of the room and several others chuckled.

Fury looked around for a bit before huffing. "Seems like we got a problem here, Fox. My partner isn't here."

She grinned at him. "Oh, trust me, he is."

* * *

The first thing Flash thought when they stepped through the portal was " _Creepy mother of Darkseid, that's a lot of pods!"_

Rows upon rows of stasis pods as far as he could see. " _I hope I'm fast enough."_

He nearly jumped as someone touched him. He looked back to see the Black Widow. "Don't think about it. Even if you just save one, I will be forever grateful. Even if you just try."

Flash nodded. "The cameras off?"

She nodded. "You have ten minutes before the guards come."

"Wish me luuuuu…."

And he was gone.

Nine minutes later and only 25% of the pods had their teleportation devices dissabled. No one had tripped any wires or done anything wrong, simply there were just so many.

Flash put on the speed and his fingers fumbled. Alarms blared and Flash realized the person he was trying to save was now waking up. And drowning. And then Black Widow was beside him, shattering the glass. A kid, a little boy who couldn't be older than ten, was falling out and coughing up liquids.

"Keep going!" She shouted as she helped the kid to stand.

Barry froze for a moment, just staring at the shaking child. The boy looked up at him and spoke. "Go free my friends."

And Flash was off again.

Guards were pouring in and heroes moved to intercept them. Deadman hovered in the control room, searching for who he should possess. But it was hard. Everyone was rushing for the button. It was surprisingly easy to trigger the alarm that would teleport the prisoners away. Like they had to deal with would-be rescuers regularly.

He settled on the man closest to the trigger and beat the crap out of anyone who got close. When the man's body couldn't take much more without taking permanent damage, he selected another. But even switching between unwitting hosts, he would be overpowered soon.

"Go!" Back among the stasis pods, one of the lead scientists had turned to a group of guards. "Kill the girl! We cannot let her live, much less escape."

In the din of battle, only one set of young ears heard the order and saw the guards leave to carry it out.

Spider-Man turned to look at his partner. Martian Manhunter was intangible, phasing through stasis pods at incredible speeds.

" _I'm sure he'll be fine"_ Spidey reasoned " _and everyone else is so busy. If I don't do something, who will?"_

He followed the guards, sticking to the ceiling. It always surprised him how often people forgot to look up. They were running pretty fast, but no one seemed eager to take point. They slid to a stop and took positions around a sliding steel door. They glanced between each other, jumpy, trying to decide who would enter the code in the keypad. They locked their sights on the entrance while one man darted forward, punched in the code, and jumped back.

The moment the doors began to slide open, they opened fire.

"Careful not to hit the chain!" one of the guards shouted over the din. Spider-Man tried to web him to the floor, but he had the distinct feeling someone had just called for backup. And as soon as the huge doors slid apart enough for him to see inside, he knew why.

It was a girl with flaming red hair. Then she was a tiger, then an eagle, then a squirrel, trying desperately to escape. But always the shackle on her leg kept her bound as she ran to the edge of her tether to attack. She leapt into the air, brilliant white wings unfolding, tethered only by the chain.

The chain had been weakened by stray blaster fire, but any animal form strong enough to break it was too small for the room. He'd noticed lasers inside the cuff on her leg and he suspected if she turned small enough to remove her leg, the broken connection would trigger a lethal surprise or at least a lost limb.

She was dodging the blasts quite well, but the door was nearly fully open. Spider-Man ran in and locked his hands together in a fist, raising them high above his head. He brought them down with all his strength on the weakest link. It shattered and the girl soared free.

He watched the look of surprise on her face as she rose higher than ever before. His Spider Sense tingled, but he didn't have room to dodge as a round of laser fire connected with his chest, piercing the suit.

The last thing he saw as he blacked out was a furious puma leaping over him and sinking her claws into the guards.

* * *

Jean Grey jerked up as she caught a stray thought from one of the senior guards nearby.

" _Have to get out of here. Can't let them find the new guys. Orders are to kill them first; they weren't even working anyway."_

Jean saw in the guard's mind a detailed route to where he was heading. The only way for him to get there was through a door at the back of the room. She promptly sent Wolverine and McKoy to guard it.

They were 30% through the pods and running out of time fast. She hoped their gambit paid off.

They had left Polaris and Magneto behind with blueprints of the pods. There were far too many delicate life sustaining functions tied to the circuitry surrounding the teleportation device for a simple yank and grab. But they hoped if their two metal moving experts were given enough time, they could find a way to do just that en masse. They'd done this kind of precision work on a large scale before. She just had to buy them some more time.

A message came over the P.A. system. " _Deadman speaking. I could use some help up here!"_

Fury had never wanted to slap a ghost more. Could he have tried to be more subtle? Well, one nice thing about the hoards of guards turning to back up the command center meant it gave him somebody to follow.

Fury at least knew how to send a comm over a coded frequency to all his agents that went like this. " _Follow those guards!"_

The Hydra soldiers were not oblivious to their pursuers and many turned around to face them. Fury took several out as he fought to get past them and keep following those headed to the command center. When he arrived, he was greeted with an unusual sight.

There was a pile of bodies in front of a big red button. Standing in front of the button was a Hydra goon. As he watched, the guard crumpled and another took his place fending off his colleagues. Deadman's work, Fury presumed.

He went to work giving the ghost some wiggle room and became suddenly very popular.

It seemed like half the room was aiming for him. He found some semi-decent cover and returned fire. At least he was keeping them distracted while he waited for the others to arrive.

He heard a sharp cry from behind him and whipped his head around. Over his shoulder he could see a Hydra goon crumpled on the ground not ten feet from him. The man must have snuck up during the cacophony of gunfire. But two feet away from Fury stood a young man in a red mask and black jacket, gun barrel smoking.

"Red Hood, I presume?"

The young man turned around and Fury nearly gasped at the sight of the gushing gunshot wounds in his chest.

"I guess we both had silencers." Red Hood quipped. He looked down at his shirt. "I need some better kevlar."

Fury snorted. "You and I both know kevlar has nothing to do with it when it comes to these kinds of guns. Be glad you aint vaporized and fix yourself up."

"I've had worse. Now, let's get shooting."

They both stood and moved forward, barrels flashing.

* * *

Flash nearly wet his pants when he heard at least three separate voices fill his head in unison.

" _Everyone, get out of there!"_

"No, I can do more! Just give me another minute…"

" _Flash,"_ it was J'onn's voice " _they have a plan. We aren't abandoning these people. But we need you out of the room."_

Flash pulled out, rushing the others out of the room. He caught a glimpse of a floating girl in green and a man in red with a bucket on his head. He watched as they both hovered, eyes closed in concentration, moments before plunging to the ground. He hadn't seen anything happen, but that didn't mean nothing had.

Up in the control room, one lucky guard finally landed a blow on the button that would activate the teleport. Nothing happened.

"They did it." Red Hood breathed.

Fury raised his comm. " _Nice precision work, Magnus. Natasha, you're in the clear."_

Black Widow smiled. Foxglove gave a sigh of relief as she saw a puma come bounding down the hallway, chasing down her lifelong tormentors. She noted with pride there were no fatalities in her wake, merely enough damage to keep them on the ground. Someone had been taught well.

Batman turned to the others. "Don't let anyone escape. Let them face justice."

There was a resounding cheer to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the prologue now. But don't worry, this isn't the end. There are more stories in the making. They just might take longer to produce since my college classes have started.  
> In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the longest of tales. Each of my stories varies in length. Each of them contains enough of the action to carry you on to the next. Also, as this is a crossover series, I like to have at least one story dedicated to one fandom before bringing it into the mix with the others. I promise my next story will more "mature" topics. We will finally be presented with our first major moral dilemma.  
> As always, kudos are nice but comments make my day. Even if it's just to say I misspelled Batman.


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As one case closes, another is opened.

S.H.I.E.L.D had left, taking all the guards and scientists with them. Foxglove, Gamora, and Black Widow had handled moving the pods. No one ever got to see who was inside, but Natasha had assured her they had all gone home.

It had been three hours since Magneto and Polaris had saved the day, but Batman couldn't relax. Fury had emerged cursing, carrying an unconscious Spider-Man over his shoulder. The kid would be alright, but he wouldn't be going home to Aunt May for a while.

But that hadn't been why Fury was cursing. He had walked right up to Batman and said, "You better find that kid of yours. Red Hood took a bullet for me; I owe him my life. But he ran off before I could get him a medic. He's lost a lot of blood and I know for a fact he's going to need help."

So now Bruce had to pray for the lives of two of his sons, both of whom doubted his love for them.

Tony was impatiently tapping his foot beside Batman. "Can we hurry up and leave already? You and I both have places to be."

"As soon as the last part of the brief is completed we can go," Batman assured him.

"Which is?" Iron Man asked.

"Coming this way." Batman pointed.

A puma was peeking her head around the corner, watching them with caution and curiosity. Her face was speckled with blood, some of it hers. Her gaze was locked on Bucky, who was oblivious to her gaze and amicably chatting with Green Lantern.

"I thought you said you remembered everything?" John said.

"I thought so too, but this" Bucky gestured around them "I don't recall. But now that I see it, I'm remembering other things. Funny thing is, I don't think most of them were bad."

Batman watched as the mountain lion padded closer to the two men, hope in her emerald green eyes. He caught Widow's gaze and he shared her smile. The big cat paused a few feet away and transformed, revealing her true form of a red-haired young lady in her late teens.

"I'm not surprised," she said as the two men turned to face her. "Hydra always planned it that way; that you would never remember the good times, when you were Winter." She stepped closer. "I don't know your real name, but when you were like this, good and kind, we called you Winter. When they made you do things, we called you Soldier. Winter was my hero and Soldier never would hurt me. I missed you."

Bucky's face was clouded as he struggled to remember. "...Rachel?" And as if her name had thrown a switch, his face brightened. "Oh, kid, thank God you're ok!"

Rachel was crying now and she rushed forward, throwing her arms around Bucky. "He's dead, he's dead…"

Romanoff stepped forward. "No, Lex is alive. We got your message in time."

Bucky shot a glare at her. "I seem to remember two other red-haired girls too."

Widow shrugged with a sad smile. "It wasn't relevant. Besides, I'm the only one left."

Rachel pulled away from Bucky, grabbing his hand and turning to the others. "Come with me, there's something you need to see."

They followed her through a door in the back of the room. The sight that greeted them was not a welcome one. A row of beds filled with Arkham's missing residents, sickly and pale, chained to the rails and connected to wires, groaning in pain. But our heroes froze by the bed closest to them.

And stared down at the form of Captain America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, this is not the end. The second story will be coming more slowly since I am in school, but it is coming. I do not apologize for the cliffhanger.


End file.
